


Do What's Familiar

by screwitimironman



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magic, But very veiled hints, Dark Wizard!Zarkon, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Familiar!Allura, Familiar!Hunk, Familiar!Lance, Familiars, M/M, Magic War, Past Abuse, Past Rape, Past Torture, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Powerless, Slow Burn, Witches, Wizard!Keith, Wizard!Pidge, Wizard!Shiro, all the familiars, hints at rape, some violence, they're all cats, wouldn't say overwhelming
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-04
Updated: 2017-04-04
Packaged: 2018-09-28 00:38:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 36,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10059584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/screwitimironman/pseuds/screwitimironman
Summary: When Keith starts losing his natural magical ability his world turns upside down and no one seems to be able to help him. If he can't use his magic, he can't protect Altea, and Zarkon's dark forces will overcome the proud magical capital. It doesn't help that he has to also deal with the sudden appearance of a sleek blue cat who harasses Keith through his bathroom window, and a worrisome reoccurring dream of a beautiful naked boy writhing in his bed. Hopefully the Red Paladin can win his familiar's trust and regain the strength to protect the city, before it is left in shambles





	1. Up Against A Wall

**Author's Note:**

> I don't write a lot so I'm very sorry if you get interested in this fic. It's not Beta-Read, but I'm also hoping it doesn't get crazy long! This isn't my first fic, but I don't usually post my work online because it's hit or miss if I finish them. I hope you guys enjoy though!

Altea, a golden city shrouded in magic and mystery, the crown jewel of King Alfor’s Coven alliance, and the home of witches and familiars alike, protected by the Paladin of the Order of Voltron, the Great Defender. It stood deep and erect with it's brilliant golden buildings and it's great magical achievements, a beacon to all who travelled across the many magical realms, each more dangerous and twisted than the next.

Keith grimaced, remembering how he had been one of those lost wanderers for many years, his childhood marked with great strife. He had dreamed for many years of coming to Altea in search of his biological family. He hadn't found them, but instead he had found fierce friends and a powerful gift for the magical arts. Shiro had taken Keith under his wing and trained him to become apart of the Order of Voltron, a powerful position that most street rats like Keith couldn't even dream of. He was slowly getting there with the help of his powerful magical gift, a fierce and unhindered natural magical ability that seemed to erupt from Keith depths. He was already so powerful that it only took Keith and Shiro's power to renew the thick golden wards that protected Altea from the ill intentions of Zarkon and the Galran City. It had been many years since the dark warlock had declared war on Altea and the Coven Alliance, and they had lost many faithful Druids to the sway of unregulated experimentation.

Keith’s hand tightened on his glowing conjured sword as he remember the deformed bodies of the monstrosities Zarkon's Druids had created to please their blood thirsty master, how many twisted soldiers he had killed at the golden border of his peaceful city. As they approached the shimmering gold ward barrier that he and Shiro had painstakingly placed to protect the city, the whole party shuddered in memory of past battles fought at the edge.

The golden walls glowed warm like sunlight when Keith drew near, humming happily at the return of its citizens, a drastic difference from the cold dark world Keith knew to be on the other side of it.

“Well everything looks fine.” Pidge’s glasses shimmered in the golden light, their hands wrapped up in an ancient rune book. A young wizard with a great attitude for spell manipulation and engineering, Pidge was the youngest in a long line of magical researchers, a prodigy with manipulating the basic code of spells and creating new effects. The golden light shimmered off their green robes, the sturdy canvas backpack on their back squirmed, something struggled in its depths.

“Stay alert. The barrier specifically warned us about incoming dark magic.” Shiro was tense, his magic already blazing a dark purple in his hands. He was the oldest of the group, like a brother to Keith, and the leader of their patrol tonight. His hand was blackened and charred, poking from the depths of his black robes. Keith had always wondered where the injury had occurred, but had never had the guts to ask. 

Frustrated mewling echoed from Pidge’s backpack, causing the green wizard to let out a huff of annoyance before they spelled the bag open and lifting a hefty cat from the depths. The cat landed with a thud, quickly shifting to the form of a large man, fists at the ready. “I can feel it too. They’re close. It's rubbing my skin the wrong way.” Hunk murmured, his human form tense and angry

Shiro nodded, moving towards the barrier with an outstretched hand. “Well the only way to find out is to go and find them.”

They all nodded hesitantly, each member of the party using their magic to slowly push through to golden border together.

As soon as they phased through the wall they were greeted by a darkness that seeped from the ground like thick fog. It was unnaturally silent, and the dark fog clung to the patrol like thick layers of molasses. The tension in the air increased with every heavy step, and Keith’s sharp gaze caught the glint of cat-like Galra eyes in the tree line. As his eyes adjusted to the dark he could make out the hulking forms of the Galra troop, 5 or 6 of them lurking behind the trees and the smog. There was a tense stand off as both sides sized up the other, neither moving a muscle, Shiro tensed his hand, signaling the party to stand their ground and wait for the first move. 

Keith took a sharp breath, his magic sizzling red hot at the surface of his soul, the conjured blade in his hand began to sizzle red hot in his excitement. The tension ate away at his paitence, the need to move, to protect his home boiled in his heart, calling for blood. A quick movement caught his eye from the left and he threw caution to the wind, rushing into the woods sword at the ready, ignoring the dissatisfied sigh Pidge, Hunk, and Shiro all seemed to share at his head strong charge.

When Keith sliced through the first Galra with ease, the flesh bubbling under his red hot iron blade, he knew this would be a quick fight. They'd probably stumbled on a scouting party that got way too close to the border and tripped the alarms. To his left and right Shiro and Pidge cast spells that streaked the night with hues of green and purple, while Hulk shifted in and out of his feline form form, borrowing Pidge’s magic to blast holes in enemy Galra in brilliant flashes of green.

“Keith!” The red magician quickly ducked at the sound of Shiro's voice, a blast of purple flying over his head and singeing a hidden figure to Keith's left, the scout fell dead to the floor, knife still grasped tightly in it's hands. He slashed his blazing sword through what was left of the monster before rolling to his feet.

The rest of the Galra, quickly realizing they were being cut down easily in large quantities, started to retreat into the woods, rushing to escape back into the thick black smog.

“Pidge!?” Shiro barked, hand in hand with a bulky Galra fighter who was trying to overpower the black wizard.

“Got it!” The pages of Pidge’s book whipped open and Hulk eyes glowed as a pale green light shot from Pidge’s glowing book snaking out, with the guidance of Hunk's swift feline form, after the retreating Galra. The lines snaked up the fleeing Galra's legs and pulled tight, green energy spiking into the the enemy warrior's thighs and dragging them back to the glowing book.

One of the Galra scouts saw the green rope coming for him and stuttered out a quick and shoddy spell shield, the dark Galra magic ate the green light of Pidge’s spell barely allowing the Galra to escape, but not before Keith glanced up, tracking the fleeing figure through the trees. 

“The straggler is mine!” Keith called, rushing after the fleeing scout with a quick speed spell on his black shoes. It didn't take much for Keith to dodge the many branches and patches the Galra ducked around having basically lived in these woods for years before being accepted into Altea. Keith felt the adrenaline rush through him as he raced forward, slowly catching up to the fleeing Garla. Once Keith was close enough he saw his window, using his magic to catapult of a fallen log and tackle the purple alien to the ground. They struggled on the damp earth, the black smog a swirling mess around them, limbs flailing for dominance. Keith finally felt the Galra's defense break and he pinned the scout, boiling hot blade quickly pressed to the enemy's throat.

“What did you come for?” Keith hissed, earning a strangled grunt from his captive, the blade crackled and burned against the scout's bare throat.

The Galra spat, struggling away from the fiery blade in Keith's hand. “Zarkon will come Paladin. And he will burn everything you lo-”

The Galra and Keith both froze when the magic sword Keith had pressed against his throat blinked out of existence.

“What the..” Keith sputtered, the Galra scout seeing his opportunity in Keith's confusion, bucked underneath the wiry paladin, using the momentum and surprise to flip their position, pressing Keith to the ground with a firm hand on his exposed neck. 

Keith frantically squirmed, attempting to cast any form of magic, panic welled up in him when he couldn't feel the fiery burn of his magic. the hand on his throat flexed and the dark haired warrior grimaced, frantically trying to break the hold of the soldier on top of him

"Not so tough now.." The Galra teased, his hand playfully tightening around Keith's throat causing his to gasp and cough for air. He pulled his hand back, a ball of black lightning charging in his palm. Keith’s squirming grew frantic purple eyes frantically switching from the immense energy in the scouts hand's to the cold glint of his yellow cat slit eyes. Flecks of black crowded Keith's vision as the Galra’s left hand clutched tighter and tighter around his throat, firmly cutting off his air supply.

The Galra scout leaned into Keith’s face, eyes searching Keith's frantic purple gaze, his breathe hot and rank on the young paladin's cheek.

“Your death will be a victory for Zarkon.” The words send chills down Keith’s spine, and he could barely think before the black ball of energy was hurling towards his face.

“MRYAH!” A solid hunk of fur screeches through the air, knocking the Galra’s hand into the dirt, forcing his death blow to land just inches from Keith’s face. The Galra screamed as razor sharp claws ripped into the soft flesh of his face, and he realized Keith in a blind attempt to whack Hunk to the side.

Taking large gulps of air Keith manages the yank his hand from below the heavy weight of the Galra in the shock, socking the enemy on top of him square in the temple, knocking him out cold before he could get up again.

“Keith what the hell was that man?!” Hunk asked, fully shifted back to a human now. He pulled the unconcious Galra to the side, helping Keith to his feet.

Keith felt numb, shock running through his body, his throat pulsed from the pain of almost being crushed. “I don’t know.” He rasped before he looked at his hands as if trying to find the problem with them. He snapped his nimble fingers sharply, but the thin flame he conjured only flickered before dying. 

Pidge and Shiro came running over, their faces grew long when they saw the gaunt look on this friend's face.

“I think I’m losing my magic.” Keith whispered, looking down at his hands in horror.

__________________________

Shiro insisted that the best thing to do was to see Allura and Coran immediately, though Keith tried to argue it was hard to make a convincing point when his throat hurt everytime he opened his mouth to speak. 

They rushed through the city in the cool of night, witch lights lining the streets and late night stragglers getting caught up in the hustle and bustle of the golden streets of Altea. The vendors who called out promises of rare wares and ethnically diverse food at low prices on unoccupied street corners could only be found during this witching hour, when law enforcement was lax and buyer's pockets were overflowing. Altea at night always seemed much more diverse and alive than the Altea of the day. It was one of Keith's favorite reasons to be on night patrol: the scents and shouts, the suspicious eyes of an Uduloo haggling extraordinary weapons, and the carefree bustle of life brought a quiet smile to his face.

They continued to push through the streets until they reached the Altean Castle, a large floating sky scraper of gold that all magical energy in the city flowed through. This was the heart of the city, home of the Princess Allura and her royal attendees. It was also the building that housed the Order of Voltron's meeting and training grounds. The golden steps to the door overflowed with water that magically disappeared wherever you stepped. Keith struggled up them with a firm shoulder from Shiro and Pidge, the patrol's adrenaline finally running short. 

"We're going to head out." Pidge murmured when they reached to top of the stairs, shooting a worried look at Hunk, slowly padding along after the three wizards. "Hunk needs to eat after expending this much energy otherwise he'll collapse." The husky Maine Coon made a low noise of protest, but Pidge swooped him up in his arms like a baby and scratched his forehead. "We can bring Keith breakfast in the morning and bother him then."

Shiro hesitated at the door, "Are you sure Pidge? I'm sure we can get you food here." His hand firm on Keith's shoulder.

Pidge caught the sad expression on Keith's face, the tired hint to his violet eyes and shook his head. This wasn't going to be an easy talk for the red paladin and Pidge knew better than to mess with the broody atmosphere surrounding the boy. "I have some texts I need to go over. It'll be fine." They smiled, shooting a firm glance at Keith before turning and walking back to their apartment with a mewling Hunk in hands.

"What was that for?" Keith asked, voice hoarse and bewildered. Shiro chuckled under his breath, shifting Keith's weight against his side. "I think they were just trying to give you some space, in case this didn't go well for you. We all know how you hate confronting emotions." Shiro smiled, pushing open the golden revolving doors.

"Do not." Keith snorted, but a light blush of pink flooded his face.

"Whatever you say." Shiro teased, pulling him through the Grand Foyeur to the hovering elevator that waited in the center of the room.

Keith rolled his eyes as they finally stepped onto the smooth gold disc that hover just silently at ankle height, the platform didn't even bounce under their extra weight, humming with a warm glow. As soon as they were completely on it the disc enclosed the two in warm light before racing to the top floor of the skyscraper.

"Shiro..." Keith coughed, trying to clear the roughness in his throat. "Do you think Allura will know what's wrong with me?" The black wizard tensed at Keith's words.

"I wouldn't say there's anything wrong with you." He ventured, voice uncertain. "But whatever it is Allura and Coran will figure it out eventually. They helped me with my arm when.." He let out a short sigh, shooting a sad smile down at Keith. 

The hum of the elevator grew deeper as their descent slowed, dropping them at a grand golden doorway carved with dancing light patterns. Shiro stepped forward, waving a glowing purple hand. The handleless door swung open to reveal a round dropped living room with windows around every inch of it overlooking the bustling city. A glittering sundial sat in the middle of it, an older looking ginger cat sat nestled in a bed situated underneath the it, his eyes glowed a brilliant golden color as the magical energy from the entire city flowed through him. 

The cat blinked once again, his eyes returning to their vibrant blue state. "Young Paladins!" Corn jumped from the bed to the floor, quickly morphing into his tall lanky human form. "Come for some much needed healing I see." He looked pointedly at Keith's neck which had already began to bruise.

"Actually it's a little more than that Coran. Would you mind waking Allura?" Shiro asked politely.

"Yes of course!" Coran slipped back to his feline form, jumping up to a small platform. He pushed a few buttons with his paws, talking as he went. "May I ask the nature of this late night soiree?"

"It's probably better if I wait till everyone is here." Shiro replied apologetically, his hand firmly gripped Keith's shoulder as the younger paladin attempted to burn a metaphorical hole in the ground with his gaze.

"I see. Well she should be down in a few ticks." The ginger cat flicked his ear, lazily washing his paw.

"Coran! What is the meaning of waking me up at this hour!?" A ethereal silvery feline slid into the room, fluff flowing with the weight of her steps. "You know how important it is that I get a full nights- Oh! Shiro!" The feline stopped in it's tracks when she caught sight of the black wizard, and if cats could blush she would have. "...and Keith. To what do I owe the pleasure?" She quickly recovered.

"Princess we know it's incredibly rude to bother you at his hour, but we had something very strange happen during patrol and we were wondering if you and Coran could shed some light on the situation." Shiro nodded to Keith, who cleared his throat with a wince.

"Uh.. I can't seem to." Keith faltered, dropping his gaze to the floor once again. "My magic isn't working. I can't feel it."

Allura's face deepened in concern. "Let's take this to the lab shall we." She nodded, before trotting off down the hall. Keith looked at Shiro quizzically, but Shiro just shrugged in confusion before following the princess.

"Keith as you know there are three kinds of wizards in this world. The first kind is like Pidge, lots of magical aptitude but no ability to wield that magic unless it flows through a familiar, a conduit to amplify and refine the magic, that would be Hunk." Allura chattered quickly as they passed through sleek doorways into another empty corridor.

"There are Wizards like Shiro, who have the ability to control magic, but their body creates overwhelming amounts of magic that must be safely siphoned from them occasionally, again with the help of a familiar." Shiro grimaced as Allura spoke, as if he wanted to say more but couldn't find the words. It was a movement that Keith barely noticed out of the corner of his eye.

"Then there are wizards like you. Wizards who have so much natural talent and ability that they can easily regulate their own Magical abilities on their own." She stopped outside a sealed glass door, pausing before her eyes glowed white and the door before them opened for her magical signature. "Or at least, that's what we always assumed you were." She lead him into a clean room with an examination table, there were all sort of energy reading machines that whirred and spun around them.

"Please sit on the table Keith." Coran mewled, jumping up on a side to press a few buttons with a wave of magic.

Shiro helped the younger boy sit on the table, pulling back when the Princess hoped up onto the examination table and started nosing at Keith. 

"Could you maybe try to conjure a sword or something. Something that's usually very easy for you?" She sat back, watching. Keith closed his eyes and tired to find the magic in his core, but nothing responded. He let out a frustrated grunt and he concentrated harder and harder. Suddenly a warm hand on his shoulder stopped him gently, Keith didn't even have to look up to know that Shiro probably was doing his best to stay calm.

“We won’t stop until we figure this out Keith.” Shiro assured him, sharing a worried look with Allura.

Allura sat in feline form, nosing worriedly at Keith’s arm. “One things for sure there is no dark intent behind this, whatever this is it might be natural.” 

"My reading are agreeing with that!" Coran chimed in, looking over his charts.

“Natural?” Keith looked at the silvery feline in shock.

“Like your body is preparing for some form of power surge?” Allura asked, as she jumped off the bench and cleanly shifted into a human. “It’s very strange.”

“Power surge?” Keith echoed again.

“It’s very rare, but your natural aptitude with magic is so great that I couldn’t imagine what power surge it's preparing for. Your body might be preparing for the greatest power surge it’s ever felt in it’s life.” Allura smiled, but it was sour. “I'm not sure what's causing it but because it is natural it might resolve itself in a few days.”

“Will this happen often?” Keith asked, a chill ran through his body.

“I'm really not sure Keith. Wizards like you, who don't use familiars, they're so rare that I wouldn't even know where to begin to look to try and find a similar case.” Allure glanced at Coran, as if looking for reassurance.

"What does this mean for the team?" Keith asked quietly, and the other three adults sort of froze.

"Well, you're off active duty for a while, that's for sure." Allura nodded at Shiro's words, she jumped from the table and morphed into her human form, white hair flowing effortlessly behind her.

"So I'm basically useless." Keith grumbled, ignoring the concerned looks Allura and Coran sent his way.

“Hey don’t beat yourself up.” Shiro placed his hand on Keith’s shoulder. “No matter what happens you will always have a home here Keith. I mean that.”

Keith tried not to shrug off the hand, but he couldn’t help averting his gaze. “Thanks guys.” The words came across hollow and disingenuous, as Keith stood with a hollow smile. "I'd like to go home now please."

"We'll keep looking Keith." Allure promised, but he caught the worried look she let slip on her human face. "We won't give up until we figure this out."

_______________

They sent him off with a quick healing spell to all his major wounds, but walking back down the streets still felt a little more hollow than usual. The night life had died down to just a few desperate calls in the night. Keith traded past everything to his quaint house near the edge of the city. A small two bedroom apartment that was in an area of Altea that sat shaded in a grove of dense trees. Keith usually liked the secluded atmosphere that it had, the quiet darkness that emanated from the depths of the slate gray house. 

Now the lonely atmosphere just mocked him.

It's not that Keith was a stranger to loneliness, he'd lived most of his life alone on the road after all. However since coming to Altea and discovering the wealth of his magical ability he had felt free. Even with his new usefulness there had been an underlying fear when it came to the people around him. If there was one thing his childhood had taught him it was to always keep a bag packed, because sooner or later you're going to have to leave. 

Altea had felt different though, Keith really felt settled. He'd even bought furniture and plates for fucksake! 

The door to his house didn't swing open at his magical signature like it usually did, Keith looked at it hopelessly, feeling like an intruder in his own house when he jimmied the lock to get in. He felt a cold stab at his heart when he saw the little furniture he owned, why did he even bother in the first place, everything always fell apart around him. Walking into the bedroom he methodically stripped, throwing his clothes in an empty corner of the closet, a dull knapsack caught his eye and he looked up to see his travel bag from a year ago still packed and ready. His fingers itched to reach for it, to get away from Altea and magic once and for all. He had never minded living alone in the past...

 _"We'll figure this out Keith."_ Shiro's words echoed in his mind and Keith choked, pulling away from the knapsack. He'd gotten too close to the people around him, Coran, Allura, Pidge, Hunk, and Shiro, memories of them swam in his head.

"You've gone soft, Kogane." Keith whispered to himself, shutting the door of the closet until just a sliver of brown leather could be seen. 

Keith hated that he felt so drained, both emotionally and physically, Zarkon could send his weakest soldier to Keith's house right now and probably kill him in his sleep. A part of the young paladin wished that he would.

 _"We've got this, Keith."_ Allura's soft words echoed once again, and Keith let out a heavy sigh. He trusted them. More than he should.

His bed felt like a cloud and he melted into it with a choked sob. It had been ages since Keith had trusted another being, and the weight of that welled up in his chest.

In the dark solitude of his home the young paladin cried short dry tears until sleep overcame him, pulling him from the blunt face of reality.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh! Where's Lance? Not to worry our favorite paladin will show up soon enough. Comments are appreciated but please be kind. I hope to get more up soon! That is if school will let me!


	2. Now I'm a Stranger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith starts having weird dreams. Lance appears, though it seems like he's going to be stuck for a while. There's a sort-of shower scene (I'm teasing don't get your hopes up.) And everyone learns about the basic needs of an adult cat
> 
> Italics are Lance's telepathic thoughts to Keith  
> "Italics" are when Lance speaks with both his mind and his mouth.

There’s a boy in his room: long, lanky and muscular. His naked body rolls on the bed in ecstasy, his hips dancing to some nameless tune. Keith felt as if an invisible force was pushing him closer to the bed, his fingers itched to run along the long planes of glistening muscles, lean like a sleek panther. He took a few shaky steps forward, his mind hazy with lust, Keith’s whole body thrummed with the need to bury himself in the sensuous flesh of the boy in front of him.

The world seemed to disappear around him. The boy on his bed had yet to turn around, seemingly content to dry hump the bed until Keith exploded in impatience. Keith's feet finally seemed to lead him closer, his hands stretching out, barely containing the courage he needed to touch the Greek god writhing on his bed.

The Siren on his bed bends, long and lean, tanned to perfection, the red sheets tangled between his muscular thighs. He rolls to his front, muscles clenching in his back, wiggling his ass, teasing Keith to come closer.

That unnatural magical connection between him and this boy intensifies, like a string is tied below his bellybutton, pulling him into the center of the toned beauty. Keith's entire being is consumed by the need to touch, to run his calloused hands across the silky smooth skin of the stranger on his bed. He walks forward, temporarily stunned by the solid thud of his knees hitting the side of the bed, throwing off his concentration and breaking the thick trance of arousal and forcing Keith to try and get a look at his surroundings.

The boy seems to grow impatient at Keith’s sudden hesitance, throwing a glance at the dark-haired Paladin he starts frantically writhing on the bed, hands roaming all over his naked body, eyes almost black with arousal.

Keith swallows, once again distracted by the sensuous roll of the boy's hips, and reaches to take his shirt off, only to find that it’s already gone. The strange boy smiles crookedly, blue eyes almost glowing in the soft light.

“Keith.”

His voice sounds strange and distorted, like he’s underwater. Keith forces himself to look past the boy, taking in smell of sex that resonates in his house. How did he get here?

The boy’s movements grow more and more frantic, drawing Keith's attention back to him, a seizure of motion that causes the blankets to fly to life, wrapping around the boy's long neck and strangling him. The boy’s eyes grow wide as he tries to rip the blankets away, naked body spasming, gasping for air. Keith hand fly up attempting to spell away the cords but the magic frizzles at his fingertips, the blankets around the boy growing tighter with each fading flash of magic

Keith begins to run towards the bed as it flies farther and farther away, frantically trying to reach the choking boy, to save the beautiful stranger, with eyes as fathomless as the ocean.

The last thing he remembers are ocean blue eyes and a husky voice.

“You know you want it.”

Keith woke with a start, covered in sweat, the imprint of ocean blue eyes and the faint wisps of a troubling dream in his head, to the sound of someone banging on his front door. He let out a deep sigh, glancing around the empty room as if searching for someone, someone who should be in bed next to him. The walls are stark, the open windows let in tendrils of warm light that cause the reading nook in the corner to glow, light dancing across the foot of Keith’s bed. Everything feels a little brighter as if they world is trying to distract him from the hollow feeling sitting in his chest.

A yawn pulls through his body, and he lets it out in a big rush of air before running a hand through his hair. He stretches out his body, rolling out of bed and grabbing his phone in one swift motion, ignoring the banging still resonating in the hall.

Takashi Shiro [7:00 AM]

\- Hey Allura wants to see you today about maybe doing a follow-up exam. Come to the Castle when you wake up.

Pidge Holt [8:00AM]

-Keith?

-heellllo??>

-How r u not awake rght now?

-Come ovr whwn u wake up i guess

-Asshole.

-Hunk made food

-Were coming for u. This is ur warning.

“Fuck.” Keith whispered. He must have slept through his alarm. With a quick jump Keith grabbed his scattered clothes off the floor and threw on pants, running to the door with shirt in hand. The closer he came to the front door of his apartment the louder the cussing resonated.

“KEITH I SWEAR I WILL BLAST DOWN THIS DOOR WITH MY GODDAMN HANDS IF I HAVE TO! HUNK IS GETTING SQUIRMY!”

Keith let out a sigh, before throwing open the lock to door and swinging it open.

“LET ME THE FUCK- Oh hi Keith.”

Pidge Holt stood at the door, squinting at Keith’s disheveled clothes. They had Hunk propped up in their arms, the large brown tabby squirmed to get out of their grip, and their faithful green backpack slung over their shoulder. They waltzed in, letting the fat cat go. He landed with a hard thud on the hardwood floor before waddling over to wrap around Keith’s feet.

“Sorry Hunk was about to shift right on the porch, I told him he couldn’t eat until we got here.” Pidge rambled as they waltzed past Keith to the small kitchenette, Keith shut the door behind them, not even bothering to blink when the husky tabby sitting in the kitchen chair shifted into a large, muscular man.

“I’m starving Keith. Please tell Pidge I can eat now. Please!! I made French toast and everything.” Hunk groveled, still laying on the floor. His hands latched at Keith's bare feet in a blind grab for sympathy

Keith let out a huff of laughter, eyeing the familiar at his feet. “I haven’t eaten yet.” He admitted.

Pidge rolled their eyes, opening their backpack up and sending a withering look in the impatient familiar's direction. With a slight twinge of concentration, Pidge’s magic filled the air in floosy green wisps, pulling things from his open book bag and spreading them rapidly across the counter. Food items juggled and grew in the air until an impressive spread of French toast, hash browns, and other assorted breakfast items sat steaming on the black granite counter of Keith’s kitchen.

“Thank goodness!” Hunk whispered, looking deeply moved by the return of all the food he cooked earlier. “Plate please?”

Keith snorted, and snapped his finger, a white plate appearing on the counter in front of Hunk.

“Just one?” Pidge asked, ignoring the sight of Hunk stuffing his face, pulling two plates from the cabinet.

Keith gritted his teeth, taking the plate from the shorter wizard. “I was shooting for 3 actually.”

Pidge and Hunk both looked at him nervously.

“But you did some magic that's got to count for something right?” Hunk murmured, shooting Pidge a worried look.

“Allure said it might come and go, that was more habit than anything. I didn’t really get much sleep…” Keith grumbled, snatching a plate from the green sorcerer’s hands.

“But YOUR magic is still haywire?” Pidge emphasized, sitting at the table after placing food on his plate. “I think the thing that’s worrying me the most about this is your magic is usually so natural and unassisted. No natural wizard I’ve ever heard of has had problems like what you’re describing.”

“I know, I know.” Keith mumbled, placing hash browns on his plate like they had personally offended him. “It just… The other day I couldn’t even get in the house after the fight.”

“That’s really serious. The doors are supposed to read magical energy and if yours couldn't even recognize that...” Pidge whispered, their glasses gleaming as they followed Keith’s path to the table. “Did you tell Allura about that?”

“Not yet.” Keith admitted, glancing down at his plate in embarrassment. "She didn't really have much for me last night but a few pokes and some scans."

Hunk hummed through his food, before swallowing down a big gulp, “Allura probably knows what it is, she’s been around since forever.”

Pidge nodded, “Has anything weird been happening or did this just suddenly happen yesterday during the fight?”

“Sudden. Nothing out of the ordinary has happened recently… except.” A blush tinted Keith’s face, and he averted his eyes quickly.

“Except?” Pidge prodded, both they and their familiar leaning forward in anticipation.

“I’ve been having these weird dreams?” Keith said quickly, pushing his food around on the plate.

“Weird how?” Hunk asked, leaning in even closer.

“Uhh...” Keith shrunk even further into his seat.

Pidge’s eyebrow rose lewdly, and they elbowed Keith with a smirk. “Sex dreams? Cause if you think your wet dreams are stunting your magical ability then maybe you should get laid.”

Keith spluttered at the thought of telling the regal familiar about the mysteriously sexual stranger in his head, before blushing harder. “NO! It’s... it’s more than that. It does start really sexual, but I can never reach him. He always ends up dying before I can get to him.”

“He?” Hunk asked, he had gotten up from the table to refill his already empty plate, piling more food than any human could eat.

“It’s vague. All I remember are his eyes when I wake up, and the fear in them.”

The three fall silent, mulling over the words before Pidge looks up once again.

“I don’t know what it is, but it doesn’t sound good. And if it’s you who's having trouble with magic than I’m severely worried about the rest of us.” The grave words hung in the air, the dark thoughts lingered in Keith’s mind.

“What if I don’t ever get my magic back?” Keith whispered, looking up from his toast.

Pidge’s lips pursed at that and they shot a quick glance at their partner Hunk, who only shrugged. “Look Keith, I can’t promise you that this is going to be "magically" fixed overnight, but I’m sure Allura knows something, and even if she doesn’t we won’t stop caring about you if you lose your magic. It’s you we care about. Not your wicked conjured sword.” Hunk purred in agreement, squaring away the rest of his hash browns in a contemplative manner.

“I’m sure you’re also partially here because Shiro wouldn't tell you anything.” Keith edged back, shooting a pointed look at the pair.

Hunk shrugged, “You’ve never willingly went to the doctor before, we didn’t know if that would change because you were…”

“Losing your magic.” Keith finished snidely, his hand gripped the fork in his hand a little too tightly, and the light bulbs in the kitchen flickered ominously.

Hunk shrank back as if stung, and Pidge let out a long suffering sigh.

“Look Keith, if you’re going to be a dick about it go ahead, but we’re just trying to be your friends.” The short wizard whisked their hand and in a flash of green the buffet disappeared into thin air. "You probably think your 'I'm too ego for emotions' thing is cool but it just makes everyone worry more."

“I left you some leftovers, because otherwise Hunk would complain about wasting food.” Pidge sighed, to their familiar’s great delight.

“Go see Allura, Keith. Shiro is waiting for you there.” With a puff of fur Hunk was squirming back into the back of his wizard’s backpack, reverting to his natural cat form.

Pidge put on the bag and pushed their glasses up their nose. “We do care.” They whispered one last time, before trudging out the front door.

The door slammed behind them with a solid thunk, and Keith felt a little bit of tension leave his body, Pidge was right he was being a huge dick about this, but couldn't they see this was hard on him. He stacked the leftover dishes and washed them off before letting them sit out to dry. He felt better after eating but his body still felt clammy and unnatural without the force of the magic stewing inside him. He looked around the house as he made his way back to the bathroom, hoping a hot shower before he went to the Castle of Lions would clear his head.

He stripped lazily, letting his shirt fallen the hallway outside the bathroom. The inside of the bathroom was similar to the kitchen with it's red walls and a dark stainless steel finish on all the hardware. Wall of mirrors framed the large tub that sat in the corner of the room. Keith ignored it and walked toward the standalone shower stall that stood next to it. The tub went largely unused due to the fact that Keith felt like laying in a bathtub was an extravagant waste of time, and he honestly wasn't a fan of being surrounded completely by water after his brief trip to the underwater magical city.

He unbuttoned his jeans, shimmying the tight fabric down his strong toned legs and kicking them to the side. He hooked a thumb in the waistband of his black boxer briefs and was just about to slip them off when he caught a flicker of movement in the mirror.

"Who's there?!" Keith jumped, grabbing the soap dispenser from the counter to brandish. He whirled around and saw a streak of gray bolt from the tub to the other corner of the room where the toilet alcove sat. The embarrassingly undressed paladin raced after the flash of gray trying to discern what it was that was in his house. He busted around the corner, soap dispenser cocked and ready to strike.

Cowering underneath the toilet a medium sized blue-gray cat sat, tail flicking angrily and ears pinned up.

Keith pointed at the cat with his dispenser, "How'd you get in here? Huh? DID ZARKON SEND YOU?!"

The cat looked just about as unimpressed as a cat could possibly look.

Keith stepped a little closer, still slightly uncertain, for all he knew this was just some regular cat that had wandered into his house looking for food. With each step the cat shrank farther back behind the toilet, and Keith began to notice that it was heavily favoring it's left side.

"Are you hurt?" The gruff paladin attempted to sound sweet, but he doubted it came across that way when the cat's only response was to let out a long hiss.

Keith let out a sharp sigh, "One second, okay?" He set down the soap dispenser and raced into the bedroom, grabbing his leather fingerless gloves from the nightstand. He slipped them on and ran back into the bathroom.

The cat looked even more unimpressed with Keith now that he had on just his underwear and fingerless glove. It let out a patronizing mewl, before slinking back against the wall. Keith snuck forward, arms outstretched, the cat's blue eyes darted back and forth between the two hands, haunches tensing as it prepared to bolt.

Keith feinted with his right hand, forcing the cat from it's hiding spot and into the grasp of his left. He scooped up the cat in a move he had often seen Pidge do with Hunk and went to take it to the bedroom. The cat growled ferociously trying to squirm out of Keith's grasp, it bit helplessly at Keith's leather gloves and it's left back leg pushed at his chest. He held the cat tightly enough that it couldn't get away, but not so tightly that he bothered it's obviously hurt back leg.

The cat calmed down a little when it was obvious Keith wasn't trying to hurt it but it still hissed and bit at his hands with each step.

Keith careful walked in the bedroom, sitting the cat on the bed. It sprawled, momentarily dazed by it's new surroundings. Keith began to look around the room for something like... Ah ha! He slid the door to the closet open grabbing the leather backpack he used to carry when he traveled from inside. He quickly dumped the contents of the bag all over the floor, He grabbed a few soft shirts from their hangers and stuffed the bottom of the bag with them.

By now the cat was beginning to make a lot of impatient noises, it mewled in confusion as the bag full of things crashed to the floor. Keith looked at it then looked at the bag in his hand, he took a deep breath and started to walk towards the loud cat. "If Pidge can do it with Hunk, I can do it with you."

The cat, eyes widening at the open bag in Keith's hands, attempted to scramble for freedom but once again Keith was too quick for the hurt feline. Keith sat the yowling animal in the depths of the bag before pulling the drawstring slightly closed. It was furious that it had been trapped in the backpack if the stream of hiss and yowls was reliable. Keith laid down on the bed with a sigh, now he just had to get dressed and go see Allura and Shiro.

"Don't worry too much little Blue." Keith murmured to the angry bag. "I've got some friends who can help you."

_______________________________________

 

After throwing on some clothes and shooting a quick text to Shiro, Keith jumped on the motorcycle he had stashed away in his garage and drove to the Castle of Lions with a furious cat strapped to his back. Keith made sure to drive extra careful so as to not jostle the poor thing too much.

When he finally reached the top of the tower the cat had gone mostly silent as if resigned to it's fate. Allura was sitting in the pedestal bed underneath the sundial this time, chatting away with Shiro as her eyes glowed a silvery white with magic. They both looked up at Keith's at the same time, as if he had just interrupted an important meeting.

"Keith!" Shiro smiled a little too wide, glancing at the Princess.

"I think we might have had a breakthrough on your condition." The princess jumped down from the hanging bed, walking toward the flustered Paladin.

"No time. I found this injured cat and I was hoping you and Coran could help me and heal it." Keith pulled the bag off his shoulder, he sat the bag on the ground and opened the drawstring bag.

Blue came streaking out of the bag in all it's angry glory, shrieking up a storm, Allura's ears flattened in shock at the caterwauling. It stopped at the foot of the pedestal when it caught sight of Allura. There was a second of silence where Keith watched the lithe cat slink around Allura, before it puffed up it's chest and purred.

"Okay I've had enough." Allura quickly shifted into human form, throwing the blue cat a scandalous look. "Keith where did you find him?"

"Blue was hiding in my bathroom when I went to take a shower." Keith answered, shooting a look between the cat, who made a face at Keith, and Allura. "Why can you understand it?"

"Unfortunately." Allura nodded, to which Blue made a noise of protest. "Yes it was that bad, just be glad no one else in this room can understand you right now. "

The blue cat huffed, and quickly groomed his chest.

Shiro looked at the blue cat curiously, and it eyed him warily. "Is he a Familiar?"

"Yes, it seems he was afraid to shift due to his injury." Keith spluttered at Allura's words, looking at the blue animal on the ground.

"Why was he at my house?!" The blue cat flickered his ears at Keith's tone narrowing his eyes, he let out a few annoyed meows before it began to tentatively clean its wounded leg.

"It was close and apparently the front door was jimmied open?" Allura translated, "He said he fixed the door afterwards."

Keith flushed remembering how he'd had to break into his own house. Shiro looked concerned at the idea of Keith's door being open, but before he could comment on it Coran came bounding in, ginger tail swishing behind him.

"You called Princess." He spotted the cat sitting on the floor licking his injury and tsked. "I see! That looks easy enough to fix, Shiro would you mind helping, we might need a little more juice."

The blue cat hissed as Shiro stepped up to help, paw outstretched to claw.

"Unbounded?" Allura murmured, looking up at Shiro warily. "Well yes but we can't fully heal you without a wizard's help. At best we can set the leg and you'll be stuck as a cat for a week?"

Shiro stepped back a few steps as the blue cat tried to pull itself away from him, ear pressed flat to it's skull. The few frustrated mewls it hissed seemed to make Allura tense in fear. Coran nodded sympathetically, padding next to the cat. Keith looked at Shiro in confusion, and the black paladin hesitantly opened his mouth.

"Allura what's wrong?" Shiro murmured, seeing the fear on her snowy complexion.

"I'll debrief you all later, but for now we need to heal Lance as quickly as possible. This has just become priority number one." Allure's voice was firm and her eyes began to glow white as her and Coran's energy mixed in the air.

Shiro bowed out, sensing the finality in Allura's words but Keith felt a nagging worry pulling at him. "Allure I don't-"

"I said later Keith. This is beyond what you can comprehend at the moment." Allura turned and dismissed the frustrated Paladin, eyes glowing a holy white color, filling the room. The blue cat, Lance, hover in the air briefly, his hurt handle straightening painfully before glowing with a warm blue light.

The light quickly receded and Coran took a deep shuddering breathe at the energy expended. Allura seemed slightly fazed, but she held the wariness gracefully, like a crown of gold.

"Lance, would it be okay if you stayed with Keith these next few days. He has no magic right now and can't hurt you." Allura's voice was calm and quiet as she assessed the situation. The blue cat made a distressed noise, but he nodded, looking resigned.

Keith let out a sputter of protest. "Don't I get a say in this?" He crossed his arms angrily.

Allura shot him a withering look that mad the red wizard shrink back a little, before turning back to the slightly injured cat. "Then if you would permit me I'm going to link your minds telepathically." Lance and Keith looked alarmed at this, both opening their mouth in protest. "I will broker it! Keith will have no power over it and it can only be activated if Lance wants to use it to speak to Keith. I'm simply giving you two a way to communicate until you can return to human form."

Keith watched the brazen fear slowly slip from Lance's face, the blue cat shifted its weight and let out a hesitant nod. Allura looked up at Keith, who also let out a hesitant nod of affirmation.

"Keith please come sit across from Lance. This spell is used to help acquaint new familiar's and wizard's who have weak bonds so that they can fight in battle and still communicate. Since Keith is a natural wizard it should serve more as a one-way walkie-talkie, and less like bonding glue. It should fade in less than a week." She explained, nosing at Keith's arm until it sat between him and the strange familiar. Lance stuck a tentative paw on top of Keith's hand, Keith briefly marveled at the tiny paw on his hand before Allura's eye began to glow and a faint humming filled the red wizard's ears.

Suddenly Keith watched as Lance's eyes glowed blue, and felt a cool wash of mental energy in the back of his head. The feeling was like ocean waves and long luxurious baths, and it soothed the hollow fiery depth of Keith's missing magic. The light began to fade and Keith felt at peace, calm and tranquil in a sea of magic.

"Go ahead and test it out Lance." Allura smiled, looking at the blue feline.

Keith felt the connection blossom open once again, and he closed his eyes a little at the soothing feeling of sea air and sand between his toes.

_What kind of asshole are you that can honestly wear a mullet seriously?_

"WHAT?!" Keith glared at the cat, who simply turned up it's nose at Keith's question. "That's the first thing you want you say to me after I brought you all the way here and SAVED YOU?"

 _You threw me in a musty old bag with a bunch of rags at the bottom!_ Lance huffed, turning away from the red paladin

"I cradled you in my arms! We had a BONDING MOMENT!" Keith raged, earning confused looks from the other three people in the room.

 _Nope. Never happened._ Lance tried to stand, test the weight on his partially healed leg.

"Allura I take it back. You can keep him. That mangy-"  _MANGY!_ "thing! Is not allowed anywhere near it!" Keith went to grab his bag, shaking his head angrily.

"KEITH!" Shire's voice boomed, and Keith's body automatically tensed, stopping mid stride. "Can I have a quick word?"

This couldn't be good, Shiro was using his dad voice, which meant that there was no way of getting out of babysitting duty. Shiro pulled him over to the side and gave Keith a disappointed look which stung him to his core. "What is the first rule of Voltron?" Shiro asked plainly.

Keith's face was murderous and resigned as he quietly mumbled, "Protect those in need..."

"What was that?" Shiro prompted, head tilting.

"Protect those in need." Keith sighed, shifting the backpack on his back nervously.

"Look I don't know what that familiar said to you, but it's obvious that he's scared and lost. You more than anyone knows what that feels like." Shire's words stung, and the red wizard quickly looked away in frustration. "It wasn't that long ago when I found you and took you under my wing, even through all the horrible things you said to me." Keith winced at the memories. "Just do me a favor and pay it forward. You never know, Lance might become a valuable addition to Altea."

"Fine." Keith whispered, "but that doesn't mean I have to like him."

Shiro let out a little shrug, "Who knows? I bet you guys could be best of friends."

Keith glanced at the blue cat, who stuck its tongue out, childishly, at Keith. "Oh I doubt it."

___________________________

 

Allura sent them home with a quiet apology to Keith that they could meet about his condition later. She shot a look at Shiro that practically screamed 'We have secret war against evil stuff to talk about secretly' before ushering the wounded Lance and the disgruntled Keith out of the Castle.

Downstairs Lance put up a fuss, but was finally coaxed back into the bag for the short drive back to Keith's.

 _Why can't you just cradle me in your arms again._ Lance teased, with a cat-like smirk.

"If you want me to crash going 40 miles per hour down the roads then by all means I'll cradle you. Otherwise shut up and get in the bag!" Keith snapped, watching triumphantly as the blue cat jumped into the knapsack.

 _Are these shirts even clean?"_ Lance whined.

"Yes!" Keith snapped, putting on his motor helmet and kick starting the bike.

 _Well I guess you just naturally smell bad._ Lance snarked.

If Keith was a little rough with the bag on the ride back home, it was only because there were so bumps he "accidentally" hit.

__________________________________

 

When they got to the house Keith stopped outside the door with a groan.

 _What now?_ there was an impatient hissing noise from the depth of the bag.

"I just keep forgetting I can't open the door in this state." Keith looked at the black wood as if it had personally offended him.

 _What happened to your magic anyways?_ Lance asked curiously, his mind brushing casually against Keith's.

"Hey stop prodding!" Keith replied abruptly, his hands grabbed the door roughly to try and jimmy it open again. After it didn't budge for a second he let out a little sigh. "My magic just sort of disappeared... Mid-battle I had an upper hand on a Galra soldier and it just shorted out on me. I would have been dead if Hunk hadn't knocked away the attack with his body and saved my life."

Keith patted down his pocket, looking for a bobby pin or anything that could help him.

 _Hunk must be a cool wizard._  Lance Mumbled, growing restless in the bag.

Keith pulled a library card from his pocket with a small smile of success. "Nah Hunk is Pidge's familiar. He's a good guy though." He slipped the thin plastic between the jam and the lock.

 _A familiar saved you? and you weren't his wizard?_ The confusion was evident in Lance's tone, it rumbled through their thin connection.

"We don't really worry about that stuff here. We're all a team and we all look out for each other. Just because Hunk will never be useful to me in a magical sense doesn't mean I won't give my life to protect him."

The door clicked open with a smooth turn of the card. Keith smiled, pulling open the door and stepping into his house.

Lance was uncharacteristically silent in the back of the bag, as if something was bothering him. He didn't even complain when Keith pulled him out of the depths of the bag and set him down on the smooth tile floor.

Keith locked the door behind them, putting the library card safely back in his wallet.

 _How'd you do that? Most natural wizards are complete inept without magic._ Lance looked at the door curiously, his voice soft.

"Well I'm not most wizards. It's a trick I picked up a long time ago." Keith wasn't really ready to poor his soul out to this stranger who was staying in his house, though he couldn't help but feel a light blush at Lance's offhanded compliment.

Thankfully Lance didn't push him, proving that he had more tact than Keith would have given him credit for. He walked down the hall listening to the gentle pad of Lance's feet behind him, passing his bedroom he and opened the door to a room on the left. Lance padded into the room, sharp eyes searching the room.

"You can stay here. It's not much but it's all I have. You already know where my room is. there's a bathroom down the..." Keith trailed off nervously, did Lance even need a bathroom?

There was a moment of complete terror when Keith realized he had no idea how to take care of a magical talking cat at all. Did he need to go buy cat food?

 _Soft..._  A loud purr distracted Keith from his inner freak out. Lance was rolling in the patch of sunlight that had warmed up the gray bed, completely oblivious to Keith's small panic session.

"Uh... I'm going to call someone really quick." Keith slipped from the room, grabbing his phone and dialing Pidge's number.

"Pick up, pick up, pick up-"

"Yaaa-lo." Pidge's voice drawled over the phone.

"Pidge!" Keith whispered, shooting glances at the bedroom Lance was in. "How do I take care of a familiar?"

"What? Look Keith I can't understand you if you whisper like that." Pidge practically shouted, "Hunk's whipping up lunch and you know how loud he gets." The dulcet tones of Hunk singing along to Memory echoed through the phone. The baker had a nasty habit of badly singing show tunes as loud as he could when cooking.

"Pidge! Mayday!" Keith whispered, just slightly louder, nervously glancing at the bedroom. "How do I feed a familiar? Does it poop?"

"A FAMILIAR? Hunk! Shut up for like ten seconds!" The sounds in the back ground shut off abruptly. "Why do YOU have a FAMILIAR at your house?!"

 _Keith?_ Lance's voice prodded questioningly at his mind.

"Can't talk! Bring help!" Keith whisper furiously, hanging up just as Lance strolled into the hall.

 _Who was that?_ The blue cat slinked, still nursing a slight limp from his healing leg.

"Pidge and Hunk!" Keith tried to keep his tone normal, watching those ocean blue eyes scrunch in confusion. "I told them about you! They want to come visit!"

Lance perked up visibly at that, ears twitching in excitement.  _Is Pidge... cool?_

Keith was a little confused by that question, but he nodded. "Yeah. They're like a genius when it comes to magical manipulation and spell theory."

Lance looked a little bothered by that, but like he was trying to push past something.  _They won't bother me too much, will they._

"I can ask them to give you some space, but Hunk's going to be all over you no matter what I say. He's just a touchy guy." Keith wanted to pry but he remembered the withering look Allura had given him earlier for asking.

 _Hunk's the familiar, right? That'll be fine._ Lance blinked excitedly, glancing around the living room of Keith's home.  _This is sort of gloomy..._ Lance remarked.

"I'm not a big decorator." Keith admitted, looking at the room. "Most of this stuff was just here when I moved in."

 _This is the... What about your stuff where is it?_ Lance was jumping around the room, scenting pieces of furniture and testing height differences.

"I don't have any." Keith replied bluntly, not really liking the turn this conversation was taking.

_Nothing? No blankets? No photos?_

"Look just drop it, okay?" Keith muttered, eyes warily tracking the feline, making sure he didn't knock anything over.

_That's kind of weird though Keith. Not even a family photo?_

Keith swallowed hard, before taking in a deep breath. "Just because you're going to be living here for a few days doesn't mean you get to judge me for my life, Lance. I'm going to grab a shower. Try not to break anything." Keith tried not to let his anger bubble over, but from the look on Lance's face it had peaked through. He rushed into his bathroom, bedroom door slamming shut behind him.

________________________________

 

"Obviously a touchy subject." Lance kept that thought to himself, replaying the memory of Keith basically bolting from the room

The familiar shrugged it off, going back to exploring the house around him. It felt cold and impersonal, not unlike the rough edged owner of the house. Memories of the musty Bag of Doom replayed in Lance's mind and he shuddered. That bag had more of a scent to it that this entire house combined. Lance was almost completely positive that he was the first person to ever even sit in it.

Still the sightline from the top of the generic book shelf in the corner was really nice, if not a little difficult to get to. All-in-all Lance wasn't trying to complain, just trying to understand.

The sound of running water hitting tile prickled at Lance's ears, Keith must be finally taking that shower he needed days ago. The thick musk of the mulleted boy was burned into Lance's mind, leathery and sharp. It wasn't a bad smell, but Lance wasn't sure what if it was something he wanted to mess with.

The smell of lingering magic was the most prominent smell in the house, a smoky smell like wildfire and sandal wood that seemed to cling to Lance in warm rivets. That must be Keith's residual magic from before he lost it. Familiar's have the ability to sense magic in it's purest form, their animal senses giving them the ability to track and hone on distinct magical signatures.

The amount of residual magic energy in this house was appalling, lance would have to scrub every corner of this house until he felt safe enough to even sleep.

Flashes of nightmares flickered in Lance's mind, but he swallowed them down. Keith couldn't use magic, Lance reminded himself.

_"Just because Hunk will never be useful to me in a magical sense doesn't mean I won't give my life to protect him."_

Those words sent a warm chill through his bones. He'd never heard of a wizard who would willingly give his life for a familiar. Maybe this Altea place was everything the rumors had said. A land where Familiars could freely live their lives. Heck, the Princess in charge of the city was even a familiar, though he was sure the black wizard had her on a tight lease from the protective glances he had sent to her.

Lance tried to scrub up as much of the residual magical energy around him by expanding his aura and absorbing the energy around his, converting it to pure quintessence. It was a skill all familiars learned fairly quickly, and Lance was particularly adept. He got through most of the Kitchen and Living Room when the flying smell of magic start to make him sick.

His focus would slip and he'd be back in the dark hole in the ground, bodies spasming, suffocating on pure quintessence-

The sound of water caught Lance's ear, they hadn't had water in the pits. It grounded the young familiar.

Figuring the room was clean enough for now, Lance slunk towards Keith's bedroom, using his magic to flick open the door and pad in. The sound of rushing water grew louder, and Lance felt a shiver run down his spine. Inside the bathroom the air was hot and steamy, like the inside of a boiling volcano, and Lance could see the faintest outline of Keith's naked body through the frosted glass.

Lance felt extremely rude for interrupting, but the wet air rejuvenated him, making him feel alive.

He glanced up again, curiosity getting the better of him. The glass was to frosted to see anything ground breaking but the sharp lines of Keith's body made Lance want to purr in appreciation.

"No Keith is a douche." Lance reminded himself, jumping from the floor to the window that sat over the tub. "An attractive douche, but still..." He leaned against the cool glass of the window, reveling in the wet heat of the room.

"As soon as you're healed you'll be out of here." Lance Mumbled, "Then I can go save everyone else." The memories choked back up threatening to consume Lance, but a loud thud echoed from the shower, scaring Lance into knocking a decorative plant off the window sill.

"Lance...?" Keith sounded resigned, and the familiar banged his head against the window as punishment.

 _Yes?_ He replied hesitantly.

"You do realize I'm naked... Right?" Keith asked, huskily.

 _Uhhh... maybe?_ Lance wanted to die, Keith probably thought he was some pervert.

"Then why are you in here?" Lance could tell Keith was trying very very hard to stay calm again.

 _The view?_ Now Lance really wanted to die.

"Get out Lance." Keith asked quietly, rage boiling under the surface

_But..._

"OUT!" Keith snapped, causing Lance to scurry from the window and out of the room.

He ran to his room and plopped on the bed, quietly listening for the sound of the shower to turn off. He heard Keith grumbling under his breath and the door of the closet opening angrily. Lance felt kind of bad for spying on the guy, but he really wished he'd been able to get at that water.

There was a loud knocking at the door and a quick muttered profanity from Keith before Lance heard the red wizard trump to the door and throw open the front.

The sound of a cat hitting the floor and loud whispering filled the air, no doubt the two wizards conspiring in the other room.

____________________________________

 

"It's cleaner in here." Hunk mused, already in his human form and walking around the living room.

"Doesn't look any different to me." Pidge glanced around, setting a large bag of stuff on the counter.

"No it's definitely cleaner." Hunk took in a deep breath, "More like sea salt and less like campfire."

Pidge shrugged, looking at Keith. "Familiar stuff I guess?" They began to pull things out of the large bag in their hand, handing them to Hunk to situate where he thought they'd go best.

A scratching post, and a few cat toys soon cluttered Keith's living room, Hunk fiddling away with sightline and placement.

"So where's he at?" Pidge asked, looking around the room.

"Uhhh..." Keith looked around the room quietly.

"You already lost him?" Pidge squeaked. "Allura is going to be pissed!"

"He was watching me shower! I got mad and he bolted." Pidge let out a wince of sympathy, they'd seen Keith's anger first hand may times.

"That is a little weird." Pidge nodded, pulling a book out of their bag. "But you really shouldn't have yelled at the poor guy. He was probably just scared."

Hunk seemed to finally be happy with the placement of the furniture, and walked over, catching the tail end of the wizards’ conversation. "I can go find him!" Hunk smiled excitedly, shifting and rushing around with a playful mewl.

"God literal sunshine. How does he do it?" Pidge murmured to themselves before throwing the book on the counter with a thud. "So first! We research his cat breed!"

Pidge flipped open the large book magically, green light flashing and glowing from the pages. "Long-haired or Short-haired?" Pidge asked.

"Uh..." Keith looked blankly at the glowing book.

"Allura or Coran, Keith?" Pidge asked pointedly.

"Allura?" Keith answered questioningly, trying to remember.

"Long-haired, cool." The book flashed, it's pages flipping rapidly. "Any distinctive markings?"

Keith made a face as he attempted to remember. "No...?" He replied hesitantly.

Pidge looked unimpressed at the lackluster answers Keith was giving him, but the book glowed again, flipping more rapidly. "Would you say playful or lazy?"

Keith looked surprised, "Is that diagnostic?"

Pidge nodded, "It can be."

"Very playful." Keith replied, remembering the arch of Lance's brow.

The book glowed once more, but the pages stopped flipping, flying open to a page.

"So the book thinks he's either a Turkish Van or a Turkish Angora." Pidge glanced at the page, "They're pretty similar it seems, close cousins."

Keith leaned down, a certain phrase catching his eye. "Watch faucets around this breed, intelligent cats with a huge love for water they will often turn on faucets and jump into the shower with their owners." He read.

Pidge let out a sad sigh. "At least that explains the shower incident."

Keith made a frustrated noise, "Why didn't he just say that! Instead of hitting of...!" Keith trailed off a light blush on his face.

Pidge giggled, "I've never seen you blush before. I can't wait to meet this guy. Do you like him?"

_Like who?_

"Nothing!" Keith cut off Pidge, who was outright laughing into her hand. "I see Hunk found you?"

_Yeah. You were right he's a great guy._

"What are you saying?" Hunk shifted into his human form. "I can't hear him when he talks to you telepathically."

 _"Sorry I'll try to do both."_ Lance meowed and telepathically replied. It was a tad disjointing in Keith's head, but nothing too bad.

"Cool!" Hunk replied, walking towards the kitchen. "I'll translate for Pidge."

"Sounds good to me!" Pidge smiled, putting away their books.

"So I know Keith's place isn't the most welcoming environment!" Hunk pointed to the dull black kitchen, a sad look on his face. "Case in point! However, Pidge and I brought you some stuff so you could feel more at home! Like a scratching post and some of my favorite toys!" Hunk excitedly shifted to cat form, large and hunkering in comparison to Lance's thinner frame. Hunk led the gray cat into the living room when Lance let out a noise of pure joy.

 _"Thank you! It's been so long since anyone was this nice to me."_ Lance's voice was sad, and Keith could have bet he would have had tears in his eyes if he were human. Not for the first time Keith wondered what had happened to the poor familiar in the past that had left him wounded.

Pidge' smile softened, not prodding the obvious sore spot. "Just wait until Hunk cooks, then you'll really have something to be thankful for."

"One cat healthy meal coming up! Fish, vegetables, and grains!" Hunk suddenly popped into the kitchen, a large well worn apron around his waist.

Hunk made a delicious meal of baked salmon, squash, and wild grains. The food was indescribable to Keith's plebian palate, but he ate as much as he could. Lance's purrs resounded loudly throughout the room, and Keith couldn't help but smile at how cute Lance was when he ate. He would huff little content mews after each tasty morsel had disappeared down his throat, warm energy radiating off of him.

Keith noticed Lance looked much bigger after a full meal, and he wondered how long it had been since the cat had eaten his fill. He caught Pidge's eye and saw the concern mirrored on their face.

"Lance... if I can ask? What happened to you?" Pidge tentatively poke the question that they'd all been thinking, and there was a distinct moment where everyone froze.

 _"It's hard to explain. I still have flashbacks. Also the Princess asked me to keep it for myself until she knew what to do with the information."_ He let out a little sad sigh, before looking down at his plate.  _"I want to tell you all, but..."_

"It's okay to not be ready." Keith intoned dryly, looking at Lance with steady violet eyes. "We've all been through things. We understand it takes time."

Hunk nodded, ferociously supportive of Keith. "I haven't exactly had the most troubled past myself! But we're here if you ever want to talk. About anything!"

Lance nodded, hesitantly opening and closing his mouth.

"If Allura wants you to stay quiet about it then she has a good reason for it. She saved my brother and Shiro from Zarkon a long time ago when they were taken." Pidge' eyes were dark and stormy, slightly averted from the table. "Don't betray her trust and she'll help you."

Lance's mouth snapped shut and a quiet hush fell over the room. Hunk looked at Pidge in concern, telepathically whispering nice things to his partner.

 _"Thank you for your kindness. I probably don't deserve it, but thank you."_ Lance's voice was hushed.

They quietly put away the plates, leaving Keith with the clean up.

Hunk dragged Lance away, the two cats bounding away to play with all the toys Hunk had brought over.

Pidge hovered next to Keith, still a brooding mess. "Do you think I was too harsh?" She tentatively sat her head in her hands, watching Keith soap up the pots and pans.

"I think you were you." Keith replied nonplussed, elbows deep in a baking pan. "If he can't handle that it's his loss."

"It's so obvious he's hiding something though; I just worry he's hurting more than we can tell." Pidge sighed, banging his head against the table. "Be nice to him Keith, I know he seems sort of grating but..."

"I'm trying. I'm just not used to having other people around. I value my solitude and this is..." Keith let out his own sigh, stopping his scrubbing for a second. Keith felt a small hand on his back and he melted into the light touch.

"You're getting better at it. Look at the strides you've made with me and Hunk. You used to just grunt at us until Shiro translated." Pidge laughed, leaning their head against Keith's shoulder.

A smile ghosted Keith's face, and he threw his head back in a deep throaty laugh.

They sat like that for a while, remembering the past. Neither of them saw the wide blue eyes of the gray feline that sat watching them from the corner, before slinking away in the dark.

__________________________

 

 

When Hunk and Pidge finally decided to leave it had grown quite a bit darker. The sun set low on the horizon like a soft smile, warm and wide. Lance seemed sad to see Hunk go, the two sat pressed close as Keith watched enviously. If only he hadn't of yelled at Lance earlier they might be on better terms.

Pidge gave Keith a sharp looked, glancing at Lance while the feline was distracted. "Be sure to apologize." Pidge whispered, pat him quietly on the shoulder.

Keith tried not to roll his eyes, shooing Pidge and Hunk from his house with a few silent waves.

When the door was closed behind the pair Keith collapsed to the floor in a heap of exhaustion. Lance looked unusually quiet from the other side of the living room.

"Wait I've got something for you!" Keith smiled, sitting up and reaching in the bag Pidge brought with them earlier.

 _Aren't you mad at me?_ Lance asked, he seemed a little wary and stressed.

Keith blinked in confusion, stopping his mad grab into the bag. "I mean... I guess I was earlier but in my defense you were kind of spying on me washing in the shower."

 _I can't help that you're attractive._ Lance puffed up his chest and made a few quick licks, ignoring Keith's blush and splutter.

"I know that's not why you did it." Keith muttered, reaching back in the bag. "I know you were trying to get into the water."

 _Oh you know...?_ Lance edged forward curiously trying to see inside the bag.  _How did you know that?_

"I researched your breed." Keith blushed again, pulling something from the depths of the bag. "Also Pidge said familiars get stressed in new environments because of their magical absorbing abilities? So I though I'd brush you?"

The words sounded stupid out in the open and some part of Keith wished he could take it back. Lance looked at the brush in Keith hand with wide blue eyes.

 _The brown one with the soft bristles is better for my fur than the wire one._ Lance sounded uncertain and surprised, but he padded forward siting between Keith's sprawled thighs.

Keith tried not to grin as he picked up the soft brush from the side. Hesitantly he dragged it through the soft fur and the nape of Lance's neck.

 _I'm guessing you've never done this before?_ Lance sounded amused, his tail twitched impatiently by his side.

"I've never had a pet before." Keith whispered, putting a little more weight behind the brush. Lance thin body leaned in to each touch with glee.

 _I am not a pet._ Lance sounded only slightly offended by the words, more focused on the feel of the brush.

"No you aren't. But you're lazy enough that you could be." Keith retorted, but there was no heat behind it, he began to get into a rhythm with the strokes, matching Lances firm purrs.

 _I need this. This place is a wreck of discarded magic._ Lance shuddered again at the memory of the thick feeling.

"Sorry. I don't really know anything about that. Once they figure out you're a natural wizard they put you straight into the technical classes. I couldn't even tell you what a familiar does." Keith ran the brush down the sides of Lance's legs being careful not to miss a spot.

_We sort of act like magical filtration systems? Anytime magic is used there's an invisible essence or energy that's left in its wake. Familiars have to ability to absorb that run off and convert it into a purer form that wizards can use, like quintessence._

"So natural wizard don't need familiars because we can absorb that excess energy?" Keith asked, delicately brushing Lance's face.

_No more like you just have the ability to make it at alarming rates. Most natural wizards come from long bloodlines of people who can create their own power. Frankly it's disgusting. So much magical energy just wasted... Uh no offense?_

"It sound pretty wasteful." Keith admitted, finishing up the back. He motioned for Lance to turn with his hands, until he was looking into the catlike brilliant blue eyes.

Why did they look so familiar?

 _Thank you._ Lance admitted, begrudgingly.

Keith hummed in response, sitting the brush to the side. "I'm sorry for snapping at you earlier. I'm usually more alone and wasn't used to the company."

 _Doesn't that get lonely?_ Lance pawed questioningly at Keith's hand.

"It's been less so recently. Which I think is for the better." Keith smiled softly, Lance was reminded of the soft encounter he had watched between Pidge and Keith and his heart ached for the obviously lonely boy. "Also if you ever get the urge to swim, let me know and I'll put some in the bath."

Lance smiled at that and let out a hearty purr.  _I'll let you know._

The two parted then, each calling goodnight over their shoulder. With a quick smile Keith conceded to Shiro, maybe this was the beginning of a wonderful friendship.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Keith is no fun to write until you add Lance to the mix. I'm really really enjoying writing their dialogue hahahahah. Semi-sweet Lance is life. Also when will Keith find out the cat that he lives with is also the boy in his dreams. (literally)
> 
> Coming up next more domestic life and a lot of backstory on everyone, except Lance.


	3. I Wanna Get Carried Away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Lance settle into a pattern of domestic life, that Keith almost ruins with his suspicion. Lance learns a lot about Keith's little slice of life and the Castle goes on Red Alert, without it's Red Paladin.

There were hands on his back, warm and slightly damp, dull fingernail dug into Keith's heat flesh, dragging delightfully down his back. Looking up he was entranced by those same ocean blue eyes from the night before. 

The boys wet mouth kissed hotly up his neck, forcing a shiver from Keith. He panted in Keith's ear, forcing the burning red paladin to keen as wet symbols were traced along the shell of his ear with a cool tongue. 

"Take me."

Similarly to last night the voice was distorted, bubbles of air forming around the beautiful boy’s words, tickling Keith's ear. Keith felt his body began to float into the space, his body ached with vertigo as if his body was spinning wildly. Yet Keith felt grounded in the long firm arms of the mysterious boy. 

Keith wrapped his arms in the boy's thick muscular thighs and marveled ah the shuddered breath the mysterious boy let out at Keith's calloused touch. 

Keith tried to grind up into the boy sitting in his lap, but the momentum of the movement propelled them even deeper into the depth of the ocean-like void. Keith felt his hair began to float, as if he was deep underwater, and the vertigo intensified as the feeling of invisible currents pushed him farther away from consciousness. 

Keith felt as if his entire body was on fire, bubbling along his skin. Air rapidly escaped from the tan boys mouth as he gasped into Keith's ear. 

So close. Keith was so close. 

"STOP!" The scream sounded far off distant, Keith froze, the air around him growing turbulent and ice cold. 

Keith looked up to see the boy struggling, hands scratching at his throat, a chained diamond collar around his nimble neck. Keith hands grasped at the collar, trying to find some latch to release the boy and save him. His hands caught a taunt chain at the back of the collar, thin and strong it disappeared into the void. 

Suddenly Keith felt the chain pull. 

The boy started to choke, bubbles flowing wildly from his mouth. Keith felt his grip slipping, and he clutched the warm skin of the boy, forced to watch him choke with the force of the chain on the collar. 

"Keith..." The word bubbled out of the boy’s mouth, his eyes wide in panic. "Let me out."

"Let me out. Please. Please let me out."

Keith woke with a gasp to a warm paw batting at his face, he choked on the air around him, sitting up abruptly and flinging Lance across the bed. 

_Don't throw me across the room! I just want you to let me out!_ Lance sat up, quickly smoothing his ruffled fur. 

Keith put his hands in his head, still chasing the dream in his head. His chest heaved, pumping oxygen thickly through his vein and clearing his head. 

_Keith! Now is not the time to be lazy! Outside! Open it!_ Lance was bouncing around now on the pads of his feet, desperately trying to get Keith's attention. 

The red wizard shook his head, clearing the thick fog of the dream from his mind. He stood up, pushing the blankets to the side with a heavy sigh. With a quiet grumble he walked out of the bedroom, Lance padding lightly behind him. Keith opened the back door and Lance darted out of the house, gray fur bouncing behind him. 

Keith eyes widened in fear. "Hey! What are you doing!!" He stepped out, ready to chase the fleeing feline. 

_Don't worry Mullet Boy, I'll be right back._ Lance chided, disappearing into the woods. 

Keith hesitated, unsure whether or not to trust his mysterious new housemate. There was still so much he didn't know about the familiar, and even if Keith had taken a liking to him he needed to be wary in case Lance betrayed them. 

About thirty seconds later Lance came bounding back to the house, tail high and proud. 

_Thank god. I thought I was going to die._

Keith looked at the feline, still unsure. "What exactly were you doing?"

Lance looked at Keith like he was stupid. _Taking care of some business..._ The cat replied hesitantly, as if he was nervous. 

Keith, now blocking the door with his body, looked hard at Lance. "What kind of business?"

Lance's hackles raise slightly and his ears flattened. _Are you interrogating me?_

Keith leaned a little into Lance's space. "Why do you have something to hide?" He accused nonchalantly. 

Lance let out a hiss of frustration. _No Keith. I have nothing to hide except the giant steaming shit I just took because, wait a minute, I can't change into a human and use to toilet like a REGULAR PERSON YET!_

Keith's face flushed in embarrassment, and he pulled back from the doorway a little. "Oh."

 _And I was just starting to think you were a nice guy. But nope, I guess you can't even trust an injured house cat to use the bathroom._ Lance slipped through the door, darting past Keith and down the hall into his room. _Oh and your bedroom is a train wreck, you should clean it._

Keith shut the back door with a sigh. He really needed to get over himself before he drove Lance, and himself by extension up the wall. He could already see Shiro's disappointed face.  
____________________________

 

Keith gave Lance his space, knowing that eventually he'd need to work up the courage to apologize to the familiar, but that now was a little too soon to do it. 

Instead he pulled some eggs and some of the salmon leftover from last night and whipped up two omelets. The first one was a small disaster, the eggs stuck to the pan and ripped up under the spatula. It looked more like really done scrambled eggs by the time Keith was done with it. 

The second omelet was perfect. A beautiful half-moon, cooked evenly through with flakes of salmon in it. Keith took a quick picture and sent it to Hunk. It was nowhere near what hunk would have been able to have done, but Keith was still proud. 

Taking the beautiful omelet down the hall he sat it outside of Lance's door, like peace offering. "Lance I made some food. It's nothing special but it should be edible." The red wizard weakly joked. 

Nothing but silence. 

Keith really wanted to punch the wall in frustration. "Well it's outside!" He chimed, the false smile felt out of place on Keith's face, but he waited a few more seconds outside before turning and leaving Lance be. 

He turned to his room, guilt gnawing at the pit of his stomach. 

Stepping back into a room he let out a sigh at the clutter that still sat right outside his closet. The contents of his go bag still scattered across the floor from when he'd emptied it for Lance. 

Keith's heart ached a little at the sight, remembering the past. 

He cleared a little spot and sat in the middle of the pile of things, eating his slightly burnt eggs and reminiscing. 

He heard the door down the hall open, the choppy meows of Lance eating his omelet filled the halls. Keith let the sound wash over him, reminding himself that just for now he wasn't alone. 

When the sounds of eating finally stopped Keith turned back to the things on the floor, pushing his own empty to the side. 

His ears prickled with the sound of his bedroom door creaking open and in the corner of his eye he saw Lance's blue eyes flashing from the doorway. Keith ignored the feline, instead picking up a dented antique campfire stove. 

He twisted the lever, causing the small stove to spark in Keith's hand. 

_What's that?_ Lance asked hesitantly

"It's a campfire stove to cook food with." Keith shut it off, placing it back in the depths of the knapsack Keith had used to carry Lance around the first day. 

_Wouldn't using magic be easier?_ Lance asked, confused, stepping forward from the door. 

"I've only been able to use magic for a year." Keith replied, sadly because he could still remember how hard life had been without it. 

_That doesn't make sense. Most natural wizards know from birth about their magic. Their..._ Lance trailed off, as if suddenly realizing something. 

"Their families teach them how to unlock it." Keith let out a hollow laugh, setting the camp stove to the side. "Too bad I don't have any." He pulled a tome from the pile and opened it up to a rough sketch of a glowing blade. 

_The Conjured Blade of Mamora_ Lance read, nosing at the warn pages. 

"This is all I got from them." Keith swallowed, his voice sharp and bitter. He filled the book open to the cover, the warn leather tome engraved with grand lettering. 

_The Kogane Tomes Vol. 1_ Keith turned the book open to the first page, where there was a brief handwritten note on the cover. 

_To Keith, may you find your way to the magic._ Keith mouthed the words along with Lance's soft voice. 

"I don't even know if I'm actually Keith." The red wizard laughed, forced and hollow. Keith saw Lance wince at the sound. 

"I have the entire book memorized." Keith whispered, picking up the book and flipping through the pages. "Just wishing that there'd be some hint to where they were..." His voice got quieter. "Who they were."

Lance padded through the pile of things to sit next to Keith, tail swishing slightly. 

"I spent most of my life traveling across the magical world, looking for any trace of this grand Kogane family. Calling myself Keith and hoping that these word were for me." 

Keith traced the words with his fingers, probably like he'd done millions of times before. "Apparently they were once a grand line of wizards who went underground during the start of the war. No one's heard of them since then." 

Lance sat his head on Keith's lap, listening quietly. 

"Once when I was 10 a man told me he knew where they were and that they were waiting for me." Keith remembered the memory vividly: the warm smile of the man, the clear blue of the cloudless sky, the warm salt of Keith's tears of relief, the tang of blood in his mouth when the man who lead him into a back alleyway mugged him for everything he owned. 

"You learn pretty quickly not to trust anyone on the streets." Keith's was ice cold, like steel incased in ice. 

Lance stuck a hesitant paw out, dabbing at the wetness on Keith's cheek. 

Keith, unaware of the water the had accumulated around his eyes, pushed away Lance's hands, wiping the single tear from his face. 

_I have an idea._ Lance said with a mischievous grin, before darting from Keith's side into the bathroom. Keith watched him go, tilting his head in bewilderment. 

Soon the sound of running water poured from the bathroom, and Keith let out a chuckle. He pushed himself up from the center of the pile, walking into the dark tile of the bathroom. 

Lance was sitting in the bottom of the tub, frantically trying to push the plug into the bottom of the tub. 

Keith smirked at the blue-gray cat’s playful attitude, running his hand under the faucet and wincing at the ice cold bite of the water. Keith messed with the faucet until the water ran just under warm, the perfect temperature for Lance's small body. He then pulled the plug from Lance's batting paws and stuck it into the tub. 

Lance let out a happy mrrew of pleasure when the water began to lap at his feet, rolling in the water at the bottom of the tub and splashing it around. 

Keith laughed, splashing Lance back with the running water from the drain, watching the dark feline's ears flicker in amusement. 

_Rude!_ Lance chuckled, flicking a wet paw at Keith. 

"You started it." Keith retorted, shutting the water off when it reached Lance's chest, ignoring the wet cat's whine of protest. 

Lance looked so happy in the water, contently swimming back and forth in the deeper part of the tub, his beautiful long hair swirled behind him. The blue eyed feline looked quizzically at the red wizard, wetly scrambling to lean against the side of the tub. One of his paws reached out and batted wetly at Keith's nose. 

_Aren't you going to join me?_ Lance's head tilted as he peaked over the edge of the tub. 

Keith blushed, looking down at the water. "Naked...?"

 _I mean if you're offering._ Lance blinked innocently, head perched on his two wet paws. The cat snickered at the dark blush that spread across Keith's face. _No go grabs your swimsuit._

Keith stared blankly at the water, before replying. "I don't have any."

 _You could just wear your underwear._ Lance pawed expectantly at the side of the tub. 

Keith swallowed, slowly standing up. He was painfully aware of Lance's eyes on him as he peeled his shirt and pants from his body. Keith's body burned as he carefully stepped into the cool water of the tub. Lance paddled to the side to give the red wizard room to stretch out in the tub. Keith smiled, running a hand through the wet silky fur of the familiar. The long silence stretched out between them, but it was comfortable and strangely familiar. 

"I'm sorry for being so suspicious of you earlier. My people skills are bad, at best." Keith's laugh was hollow and bitter, forcing a wince from the familiar. "I can't promise I won't do it again, but I'm going to try my hardest not too."

 _I promise you that all my ulterior motives aside, my only goal is to see Zarkon's empire burned to the ground._ Lance nosed against Keith's hand, a righteous fury behind his eyes. _I won't ever try and betray you Keith._

Keith felt like a fool for believing him. 

They sat like that for a little while longer, Lance casually sitting in Keith lap, talking until Keith's fingers and toes turned wrinkly in the water. The water had turned crisp and chilled against Keith overly warm skin, not unlike the telepathic connection he was briefly sharing with Lance. 

Finally, Keith decided to pull Lance from the water. He wrapped the sodden familiar in a warm towel and left him on Keith's bed to nap in the warm sunlight. Keith spent the rest of the day training in hand to hand combat, his body had grown soft in the year he had relied on magic and he wanted to be sharp in case he had to defend himself or Lance from the Galra troops. Lance watched for a while, making inane derogatory about Keith's form and the weight behind his punches. Keith took it all as good natured humor, channeling the competitive tension into his workout. 

After his workout Keith disappeared into his room to recharge, shower and pack away the things still scattered on the floor. He was halfway through repacking his knapsack when he stopped and looked around the room. Keith dumped the bag on the floor again with a laugh, putting his things on the book shelves and bad tables lining the room. He was hanging a map he had roughly draw of the entirety of the magic kingdom when Lance walked in, glancing around the room appreciatively. 

_Looks like an actual room._ Lance mused, nosing at the camping gear that sat out on the book shelf. 

Keith nodded, silently taking in the room from the bed. "I think this is the first time I've ever unpacked that bag." 

_Technically you unpacked it for me._ Lance teased, throwing a flirty wink at the red wizard. 

Keith snorted. "You wish." 

Lance jumped up on the bed and rubbed against Keith's hand. He humored the feline with a quick scratch on the head. 

_It's late and I'm hungry_ Lance whined, vying for the wizard's attention. 

"Are you always this whiny?" Keith sat up, opening the door for Lance. 

_I'm flawless. Everyone else needs to catch up._ Lance raced out the door to the kitchen. 

Keith took one last long look into the room, it did look better now that he'd finally unpacked. 

Lance was sitting impatiently on the counter, meowing loudly. Keith pushed the feline off the counter with a sweeping hand, ignoring the ruffled shriek the familiar let out when he landed on the floor. Keith started pulling ingredients together and throwing some random concoction that he hoped Lance's feline form would be able to stomach. Lance tried to guide Keith through the steps of cooking a meal, but Keith had never been that good at cooking in the first place. Quiet a few of their attempts at dinner went quickly into the trash to Lance's dismay. 

They finally settled at the breakfast nook, picking around their food and trying to find the edible bit of Keith's cooking. 

"I know it's not Hunk's cooking, but I hope it fills you up." Keith smiled, pushing around a piece of what he thought was spinach. 

_If it doesn't give me food poisoning first._ Lance smiled, looking at the food on his plate. _When I get the ability to shift into my human form again I'll have to make you some of my Mamás cooking. I can whip up a mean Arroz con Pollo._

Keith face scrunched up in confusion, looking over at his peculiar housemate. "You'd stay? With me?"

Lance's eyes widened with shock, as if the words had just naturally flowed from his mouth. _I wouldn't mind it. You aren't an awful housemate and we get along  
well enough. Though I can't wait to have thumbs so I can show you how to pick up a broom! _ He recovered smoothly, pushing some food around with his nose. 

"That could be cool. Though good luck with the broom." Keith picked up Lance's dish, going to wash it off in the sink. 

Lance padded along the counter, sitting next to the sink and playing with the running water as Keith washed the dishes. Keith splashed him right back, much to Lance's delight. 

_Are you and Pidge... a thing._ Lance asked, the words whispering quietly in the back of Keith's mind. 

"What!?" Keith dropped the plate in his hands back into the sink, wincing at the giant clatter it made. "No! Pidge is like a sis- a sibling to me!" Keith picked the plate back up and sticking it under the hot water. 

_I just saw you two the other night and you seemed close._ Lance commented. 

"When I first came to Altea Pidge interrogated me for months about the outside word. They wanted to know what underground organizations I'd heard of; the people I meet. They wanted to know all I knew, and it made me very uncomfortable. I've always been the kind of person who kept to myself so I couldn't help them much." Keith smiled at the memory of Pidge pulling out maps and data, and Keith very uncomfortably nodding at her rapid fire questions. "They're still looking for Matt."

 _I thought Allura saved Matt._ Lance tilted his head in confusion. 

"He couldn't handle sitting behind the barrier and letting Allura tell him what to do. Matt doesn't have a lot of magical ability, a lot of people overlook you when you can't burn their face off with a spell, so he created a guerrilla rebel alliance against the Galra empire, they mostly just free prisoners and take out small Galra supply lines." Keith's face was sad, as he finished rinsing off the plates. "Matt's not lost, but he's not exactly found. I think Pidge takes it personally that Matt is out trying to save the world and they're still stuck here, behind the border."

 _Does he look a little like Pidge?_ Lance asked curiously. 

"Spitting image. Why?" Keith put the plates away in the cabinet with a clang. 

_I've meet him. I think he saved me._

Keith didn't push the statement, though he wanted to, watching the far off look on Lance's face until the feline spoke again. 

_Tell me about everyone._ Lance rubbed his head against Keith's arm. 

"Well I guess first there's Allura and Coran. They run the city. They're the oldest familiars I've even heard of. Coran's got to be like 10,098 at least. They can talk in their familiar form and everything which is apparently really rare. I think Allura was just a child at the start of the war but she remembers it just as vividly. I'm afraid that one day her hatred for the Galra is going to put everyone in serious danger, her tunnel vision is legendary."

 _Why does she had them so much?_ Lance murmured. 

"Allura's father was the original Coven Master of the Alliance. He was killed by Zarkon in battle, along with most of Allura's family. I think it broke her. Coran tries very hard to ground her but that kind of pain is like wildfire."

 _What about Shiro?_ Keith nose crinkled in confusion at the knowing look in Lance's eyes. 

"What about Shiro?" Keith questioned, raising an eyebrow back at the feline. 

_How long have he and Allura been together._ Lance prodded. 

Keith laughed, "They aren't. Shiro is magically augmented wizard and Allura just happens to be helping him with his condition." Though a part of Keith wondered if maybe there was something more there than what Shiro said. 

_Magically augmented? Aren't those wizards who have spent to long in the possession of magical items and because of that their body leaches magical energy?_

Keith shrugged his shoulders a little, trying to find the best way to explain it. "When Shiro was taken by the Galra years ago they forced all the prisoners to fight. At first they all thought it was for the empire's entertainment, but Matt started to notice that people who won too often disappeared. Shiro and Matt tried really hard to avoid winning too many fights but Matt got really injured in a past match. When they told Matt he was going to fight again against the Galra champion Shiro pretended to go feral, demanding he go in for Matt. Matt knew that fighting the Champion was suicide, so he tried to fight back but Shiro convinced the Galra to let him fight instead of Matt." Keith still remembered the long look on Matt and Shiro's face when they had shared the story with Keith. 

_What happened?_ Lance asked curiously. 

"Shiro won." Keith stated simply. "The entire empire was stunned into silence by this little human with almost no magical ability who destroyed the Galra's greatest fighter. It was one of Shiro's biggest mistakes."

Keith shuddered before he continued. "They dragged him away and experimented on him. They took his arm from him and left that thing in it's wake." Keith was referring to the black prosthetic on the end of Shiro's arm that could morph with his thoughts and create magic. "The Galra have been preforming experiments for years we knew that. But we didn't know it had gotten to the point where they could create a wizard just by attaching a new arm to them."

Keith took a deep breath, bracing himself against the kitchen counter. "So yeah Shiro's a magically augmented wizard who only has his powers because of the foreign object attached to his arm. The stuff in it is pretty poisonous to his system though, like most magical objects over a prolonged amount of time. The only creatures in the world that can absorb and handle pure quintessence are familiars and even then it makes them ill after long periods of time. Allura has to occasionally pull the magic energy from Shiro's blood so it won't kill him, especially because they aren't sure how to remove the arm safely."

Lance went quiet at the mention of quintessence, the pure energy that was the source of all magic. 

_And you're a natural wizard._ Lance continued hesitantly. 

"I was." Keith bitterly stated. "When I first came here Shiro took me to Allura to get my blood tested, to see if I had the genetic markers of a wizard. Most of the time the family coaches the child into finding their magical potential, so the fact that I was living so long, not knowing anything about my magical heritage was extremely rare. Shiro told me himself that I was a natural wizard, it's just in my blood. Allura says natural wizards are pretty rare around these parts, because Altea's always been a city for familiars to live and natural wizards don't need familiars like other wizards do."

 _I always thought augmented wizards were the rarest._ Lance mused. 

"Maybe before the war, but more and more prisoners have been showing up with these experiments attached to them." Keith let out a big yawn, it was almost midnight and he was exhausted. "Want to head to bed? I'm sure Allura and Shiro are going to want to see us pretty soon to talk about the new info you brought her."

Lance nodded, sort of half-heartedly listening, a sad smile on his face. 

Keith didn't push it, instead watching the cat silently pad into his separate room. Now wasn't the day to push Lance's past, especially when it was obviously still bothering the feline. 

The days flew by quietly after that, the same haunting dream startling Keith awake every night. He sent Allura and Shiro a message about them, to see if there was any correlation between the dreams and his loss of magic, only to receive no answer from either of them. In fact, the wizard and familiar pair was surprisingly silent. Keith tried to hide his frustration at the lack of talk on his condition, but he could tell the feline could see how taxing it was on him to be without magic. 

On the fourth day of their strange cohabitation Keith woke up to a loud screeching noise, like a human having its soul ripped out. He covered his ears, only to realize the that screech was coming directly from the link he shared with Lance. Doing his best to block out the sound mentally Keith ripped the covers off and struggled to the bedroom down the hall. Inside Lance thrashed violently on the bed caught in the throes of a nightmare. 

Keith swiftly grabbed Lance's small body, shaking him awake as softly as he could. 

The small cat gasped awake, eyes fluttering wildly, claws catching on Keith's arm and ripping at his flesh. Keith hissed, the wailing in his mind finally stopping. 

_Keith! I'm sorry. I'm sorry! I don’t..._ If the familiar had tear ducts he would have sobbed into the wizard arms. _I didn't know where I was, it was so cold._

Keith petted Lance the entire time, eyes heavy with sleep. "Hey it's okay. Nightmare's are nothing new to me." 

_I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up._

"Would you feel safer sleeping with me?" Keith blushed, praying Lance couldn't see it in the dark. 

The room was quiet; Keith could literally hear the wind whistling against the side of the house. Keith felt his mouth go dry, his anxiety spiking in the few seconds of silence. 

_I'd like that._ Lance answered, nodding. 

Keith swallowed around the lump in her throat, before carrying Lance into his room. He let the cat curl up underneath the blanket, barely touching the side of Keith's bare arms. 

_Thanks Keith. You're a great friend._ Keith froze next to Lance's sleeping form, confused by the dull ache in his chest.  
__________________________________

That night Keith's usual nightly nightmare didn't come, instead he woke to the warm feeling of Lance snoozing on his chest and the sunlight trickling through the window. Keith let out a small content sigh, thinking about what Lance had said last night. 

_Thanks Keith. You're a great friend._ The gnawing feeling in his chest grew a little more, but only slightly. 

It's not that Keith was upset that Lance saw him as a friend, he was just more surprised at how close they had become living together like a domestic couple the last four days. Keith watched the slow rise and fall of Lance's chest, affection welling up in his chest. 

He threw his head back in frustration, softly so as not to wake Lance. He didn't even know what Lance looked like, or what trauma had caused his nightmares, or anything about the strange familiar. Now was not the time for feelings. 

Feelings... Oh god. Keith had feelings for Lance. 

Once he had admitted the words to himself it felt like someone had dumped a bucket of cold water over his head. Keith didn't do feelings very well, preferring to angrily ignore his emotional problems. It was true these last few days he'd been more emotional than he'd ever been in front of a stranger, but there was something about Lance's presence that had just seemed right, like Lance was supposed to spend the rest of his life tucked away in Keith's house. 

Keith shuddered mentally at the gooey domestic thoughts, trying to force down the crush that threatened to well up inside Keith whenever he looked at the feline. 

Keith decided he really needed to get out of the house for a bit. 

_You're thinking so loudly I can almost hear it._ Lance teased, stretching out on Keith's firm chest. _What's on your mind?_

"No-nothing!" Keith stammered, blushing at the sleepy sound of Lance's voice in his head. 

Lance raised an eyebrow but didn't push the issue, kneading gently at the covers of Keith's bed. 

"How'd you sleep?" Keith inquired curiously. 

_I think that's the first time I've slept through the night without being woken up by nightmares._ Lance set his head against Keith chest, the red wizard breath caught in his throat. 

"Same." He nodded, nervously rubbing the back of his neck. "We could do this again? If you wanted...? Just friends helping each other out."

The word friend felt hollow on Keith's tongue, but he forced a smile. Lance nodded at the proposal. _I'd like that a lot._

Keith reached over to grab his phone from the bed side table, jostling Lance off his chest with a cranky mrrew. Keith opened his phone only to see no new messages from Shiro or Allura. "That's weird." 

_What's weird?_ Lance was licking himself clean in the crook of Keith's arm. 

"I sent Allura and Shiro a few messages two days ago and they haven't answered them." Keith checked his email as well for good measure. 

_Maybe they're busy?_ Lance was delicately washing his foot, blue eyes closed in contentment. 

"Yeah but to not answer at all. That's not like Shiro." Keith sat up, with a loud yawn that Lance quickly mimicked. "Maybe I should go check and see what's happening at the Castle."

Lance's ear pricked up at the suggestion. _It couldn't hurt, plus I feel like we're too cooped up in this tiny house._

"We? Does that mean you're trying to come with me?" Keith teased, quickly throwing on a fresh shirt and disappearing into the bathroom to brush his teeth. 

_As long as I don't have to go back in the Bag of Doom I'll come with you._ Keith choked on his toothbrush as he let out a short laugh. 

"We'll figure something out." Keith gargled, before spitting and washing the sink. 

_I've got a bad feeling about this._ The gray cat grumbled. 

Eventually they decided that Lance could ride safely in Keith's sweatshirt, underneath his jacket. He wasn't too bulky so you couldn't actually tell Lance was pressed against Keith's chest unless you saw his feline head poking from out of the collar. Once Keith was sure Lance was secure, he started up his bike and headed for the castle. 

Lance let out a thrilled purr at the roar of the motorcycle, reveling in the rush of adrenaline he got when Keith took off down the street. 

The familiar glanced around the street, watching the hustle and bustle of the peaceful streets as he passed. He's never seen so many people in one place before. 

_This city is amazing_ Lance whispered. 

"They don't call it the jewel of the Alliance for nothing." Keith shouted as they passed blooming Alfur trees. The brilliant orange blooms glistened like gold in the light, the pure white bark of the city matching the sleek chrome city.  
"I'm glad I'm one of the many wizards who work to protect it."

_How many wizards are in this Voltron thing?_

"Hundreds. We're all split into squadrons and assigned colors based off our skill sets. No team is exactly alike, but every team has a black tactician, a yellow engineer, a green skilled magician, a red fighter, and a blue healer. Our team is sort of broken though, though Shiro is technically our Black wizard, he's also the black wizard for another more successful group. Pidge and I used to be on other teams but a lot of people started refusing to work with us because of our attitudes."

 _Why is that really easy to imagine?_ Lance teased.

"We still don't have a blue paladin because I always seem to scare them away with my recklessness." Lance made an amused snort from the folds of Keith's jacket.

_How many other red paladins are there?_

"About 20, but apparently I'm top of my class." Keith preened a little when he said that, taking a sharp turn at the next corner.

 _So the misfits no one wants to work with are also the best and brightest?_ Lance asked questioningly as they came upon the Castle. It was a magnificent building plainly visible from the town square, a spire of hope in the center of Altea.

"Haha. I guess when you put it that way it sounds better." Keith laughed, revving the bike and speeding towards the tower.

The closer they got though the more Keith smile faded. The castle was alive with cadets and Paladins in their full armor, something that was only required when the city was on Red Alert.

 _What's going on?_ Lance asked tentatively, shifting against Keith's chest.

"I don't know, but I know I don't like it." Keith whispered, pulling up to the front steps.

He parked his bike and tentatively made his way up the steps, ignoring the strange looks the other paladins where shooting him. He made his way to the front desk where a pretty Siamese sat diligently.

"Shay what's going on?" He demanded, startling the tabby. Her pretty blue eyes widened in shock at the tone of Keith's voice.

She shifted quickly into a firmly built Asian woman, her black hair cut softly to bob around her face. "Keith! I thought you were off active duty!" 

"That doesn't exclude me from Red Alerts or briefings of this magnitude and you know that Shay." Keith accused, knowing the young familiar was in charge of communications for the entire city of Altea. "Why didn't I get it?"

Shay looked down guiltily, fiddling with the hem of her skirt. "Allura sent the order out that you were not to be contacted." Shay made a really sad face, looking up at Keith with big brown eyes. "She made it seem like you quit the Voltron Program Keith, they replaced you with Rollo..."

"Rollo!?" Keith felt his breath stutter to a stop, his hands clutched the counter in front of him like a lifeline.

"Where are they Shay?" Keith's voice was quiet and sharp, the promise of danger it held made the hair on the back of Lance's neck stand up.

Shay opened her mouth before closing it again. "Keith..."

"Please. I just need to know what's going on." Keith pleaded, his voice softened helplessly.

"They're in the War Room." Shay conceded, hands flat on the table.

Keith nodded, pushing off the table and turning to jump on the elevator.

"Keith!" Shay cried, catching the red paladin's attention. "Take this too." Shay's access pass was handed to Keith, he nodded tucking it in his pocket.

"Watch out for Hunk, please." Shay smiled.

"I will." Keith nodded, he turned away from the desk and headed to the elevator, fist clenched in anger.

 _What the hell is going on._ Lance had been mostly silent during the exchange, opting to listen in confusion at the exchange.

"I don't know." Keith stepped onto the elevator with a firm foot and a calm breath. The elevator hesitated to accept him, until he showed it the access pass tucked away in his pocket. "But we're about to find out."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's going on in Keith's life? It seems like Allura is keeping a lot more secrets than she's giving out. 
> 
> Next chapter will be the confrontation and finally a look into Lance's backstory. I know thats been kind of a long time coming but hey I gave you Pidge, Shiro, and a smattering of Keith's background so you should be happy. Also Shay is beautiful. I want her in all my stories.
> 
> I was really debating on if I should post this now or write some more and then post it, mostly because nothing really happens in this chapter besides a lot of backstory. I decided to go ahead and do it mostly because I'm not sure how much writing I'll be able to do over Pats, its a huge drinking thing at my college that lasts a week, so here's something to tide you over till then I guess.
> 
> I have a lot of the next chapter planned out in my head and I'm very excited to write it!


	4. I Didn't Know I Was Broken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Betrayal, Romance, and Lance's story? Oh my! Things are starting to be explained. Though somehow that just leaves even more questions for Lance and Keith in the long run. Hopefully they can move on from their pasts and learn from each other
> 
> Also switch the tag to explicit cause things got spicy in this chapter. If you'd like to skip that it's right after they go to sleep together in the hospital. :) :O.

Keith pulled Lance out of his jacket outside the War Room, sitting the familiar in a chair outside. 

_Are you leaving me?_ Lance looked confused, his paws reaching for the red paladin. 

"I think this might be something I have to do by myself." Lance quieted at that, a strangely understanding look on his face. 

Keith turned to the door, he could hear voices angrily talking on the other side of the door. With a big breath Keith grabbed the door handle and pushed it firmly open. 

The look on Keith's fellow paladin's faces when he bust into the War Room was varied: Shiro, Pidge, and Hunk looked shocked to see him, Coran looked nervous at best, Rollo rolled his eyes with a snort, but Allura looked murderous. 

"What the hell is going on?" Keith glared at Allura, shoulders squared dangerously. 

The room was dead silent except for the clink of Rollo's hands against the table top. Allura's mouth was a hard line against her face, her hands firm against the table of the War Room. 

"Allura...?" Shiro whispered, glancing at the familiar in confusion. 

"I wasn't sure if we could trust him." Her firm gaze wavered, filling with intense sadness for a second before going stone cold again. She shot a glance at Shiro and Pidge, who both turned their faces away in guilt. 

"Trust me?" Keith asked incredulously. "I've been fighting by your side for a year now, do you really still think that I'm just some street rat looking for a meal." He ran a rough hand through his hair, with a sigh. "I'm just like the rest of you! So why was I not let in on the Red Alert. I should have at least been told we were at a state of emergency." 

Rollo let out a scoff, leaning back a little in his chair. "He still doesn't know. Jesus I almost feel bad for the kid." Rollo's tabby familiar, Nyma, let out a huff of laughter from the table. 

"That's enough you two." Shiro commanded, the words hung darkly in the air. 

"Know what?" Keith asked, his anger boiling to the surface. 

"Someone's got to tell him eventually." Rollo snidely commented.

Keith was reminded of exactly how much he hated Rollo in that moment. They were both red paladins in the Voltron Project, but Rollo liked to use dirty underhanded methods to try and undermine Keith outside of class. Keith knew he could snap the wizard in half, even when he was powerless, but he’d never gotten the chance to prove that in a fair fight. Keith glanced at the bully red paladin, the face Rollo had on right now, the dirty smirk and the sparkling eyes, was when the wizard was at his most dangerous. It was the face Rollo made in battle when he already knew he'd won.

"You know all the other wizards here just thought you knew already." Rollo was slowly gaining speed, nonchalantly gesturing to Keith with his hands. "But to think that no one thought to tell you..." The laugh was dark and sinister, Keith shuddered at the sound of it.

The other in the room refused to look at Keith, except Allura, her eyes burned as if she was looking at Keith and seeing someone else entirely.

"Didn't you ever wonder why there are no other natural wizards in Altea?" Rollo asked incredulously, laughing again at the blank look on Keith's face. "I bet they skipped all the history classes and sent you right into learning how to use magic. You, alone in a blank room, while Allura and Coran took notes on your every movement-"

"That's enough Rollo. You are dismissed." Allura's voice echoed in the small room. The young wizard let out a disgruntled sigh, knowing when he was beat, picking up Nyma and setting her on his shoulder. 

"Somebody better tell me what his face looks like when he finds out what he is." The sleazy red wizard called out, walking out of the room with his regular two fingered salute.

"What is going on?" Keith whispered furiously.

Allura looked conflicted, to say the least. She sat on the chair with a huff, head in hands. "Keith you are a natural wizard." Allura stated calmly, looking back up at the red paladin.

"Yes." Keith was even more confused now.

"There's another word for natural wizard. It's much older now, and honestly it's more of a slur than anything, but it still applies to all natural wizards." Allura bit her lip, before letting out a big sigh. "That word is the Galra."

Keith felt his whole world fall apart around him.

"The reason there are no natural wizards in Altea is because we've been at war with them for over 10,000 years." Allura whispered.

The room was dead silent for a long minute.

"How long have you know this?" Keith asked quietly.

"The moment you got close enough for the ward gate to sense you." Allura looked at Shiro who was quietly looking off to the side. "We sent Shiro with a team to kill you."

"When we found you, huddled around a fire with that book in your hand shivering, we knew you weren't a real threat, but we were all still afraid that you were a spy sent by Zarkon." Shiro continued.

"When you showed no magical aptitude even though you were well into your teens we knew something was off, so instead we awoke your natural magical ability and we..." Coran trailed off, his moustache twitching.

"We ran tests on you." Allura finished. "We tried weapons out on you, we analyzed how your magic worked, we tried to find every weakness we could. All your habits, what foods you could and couldn't eat, how long you could run..."

Keith felt sick, his legs wobbled underneath him as he collapsed to his knees. "No..."

Pidge looked like they were crying, Shiro's hand resting supportively on their shoulder. Coran also looked sick, his gaze down towards the floor.

"That's why no one wanted me on their team." Months of people whispering behind his back, the fear in people's eyes when he won in battle class, the way wizards would tuck their familiars away when he walked by. Everything made sense now.

Allura continued. "Pidge agreed to help us with our research. Shiro was there..."

"To take me out if I ever stepped out." Keith whispered, eyes wide and unseeing.

Shiro had killed thousands of Galra, enough that they feared him and called him Champion. Once teen Galra would have been child’s play to the soldier.

"Keith..." Shiro's voice was soft "It wasn't like that."

Keith's eyes caught Shiro's, blazing and angry. "What was it like then Shiro?!"

"At first, yes we didn't know what to do with you, but now it's different." Shiro's voice trailed off slightly, his gaze less and less confidant.

"If you don't trust me then why did you trust me with Lance!" Keith's voice was desperate, almost searching.

"We want to see what you'd do to an unbounded familiar. Without your magic you posed no real threat to Lance. We just made sure to check up with you occasionally." Allura answered.

Keith remembered the searching look on Pidge's face each time they came over, always asking about Lance first.

He thought about Lance outside, sitting patiently and waiting, there was no way he didn't know this about Keith, but why hadn't he said anything.

Keith sat his hands on floor, feeling short of breath. "Why did you let me work on the wards?"

"The traces of Galra magic makes it even harder for Galra troops to find it. They assume it’s one of their own a lot more often than you’d think." Pidge answered unhelpfully.

Keith pushed himself to his feet, calm determination in his eyes. "Do you know who my family is?" He asked, leveling his glare at Allura.

"Only by reputation." She said coldly.

"And what is that?" Keith whispered quietly.

"Assassins." Allura spat.

More things were starting to make sense.

"My family killed your father." Keith whispered.

Coran looked up with a scratch to his head, "Well there's really no proof of that."

"I'm sure it was them." Allura's voice was pure venom.

"Allura..." Shiro started, but she cut him off with a firm look.

"I watched my home burn around me, all because of your people!" Allura was beautifully ferocious, with each word she spoke Keith grew angrier and angrier, feeding off her hatred.

"I am not Galra!" Keith yelled, grabbing a chair from the table. He quickly ran back to the door of the War Room throwing it open and slamming the study chair underneath the door handle, jamming it from the outside.

Lance looked shocked at Keith's sudden appearance.

 _What's with the barricade?_ The gray familiar's head tilted in confusion.

"I'm Galra." Keith's breathless voice rang as he started pushing things in front of the doorway.

 _Yeah?_ Lance jumped from the chair he was sitting at as Keith jammed it under the other doorknob.

"I didn't know." Keith shot back.

 _You know this explains a lot about you._ Lance nosed at the barricade, narrowly avoiding being hit by a potted plant Keith sat down.

 _So what are you doing?_ Lance asked, plaintively.

"I'm buying us enough time to get the hell out of Altea." Keith answered, running towards the elevator door.

 _Out of Altea?!_ The gray familiar skidded to a stop just outside it. _Why would we leave Altea?_

"I can't trust anyone here." Keith pleaded. "They used me and tricked me. I don't know what is what anymore Lance or who I can trust, but I want you to come with me."

Lance looked concerned, he hesitantly stepped towards the elevator when the door to the War Room shook with a loud thud. _I don't know about this Keith. The world's a pretty dangerous place for a familiar like me._

"I'll protect you Lance." The elevator gave a hiss and slowly began to descend without the gray cat. The door to the War Room shuddered again with a loud thump, Lance glanced back in fear at the door. Keith reached his hands out, arms wide.

"Lance! Do you trust me?"

The gray familiar looked at Keith once more than looked back at the pounding door.

_Yes._

Lance jumped to the edge of the elevator, flying into Keith's outstretched arms.

They descended down the elevator quietly, though they were fraught with nerves.

 _Can't they just call security?_ Lance questioned.

Keith shook his head. "It's a no magic zone, no communication goes in or out of that room. As soon as they get the door open they'll be able to alert security, but I'm hoping we have sometime before that."

They landed in the lobby with no issues, Keith and Lance quietly walked out the door, setting Shay's access key on the desk with a forced smile. The red paladin tucked the familiar back in his jacket. They had just reached the main doors when the alarms in the building started going off.

"Shit!" Keith muttered, sprinting through the double door entryway before it could slam shut. He heard them zing shut just as he cleared them, adrenaline pumping through his system.

The magical steps of the front of the building gave away beneath his feet, water soaking him and Lance, pushing them in a torrent away from the building.

 _What was that?_ Lance screamed.

"A defense mechanism designed to keep intruders out by making it impossible to climb the stairs. Good thing it's going to take us right where we want to go." They stuttered to a halt at the base of the Castle, Keith stood quickly, sopping wet, and raced to his bike.

He hopped on and with a quick kick they were on their way.

The air stung against Keith's wet face but he ignored it, racing to get home so he could grab his back before wizards were swarming it.

 _Is this safe?_ Lance asked hesitantly, sensing the direction Keith was going in.

"I'm not leaving without that book and supplies!" Keith yelled into the wind, speeding down the streets.

They skidded to a stop outside the house, running towards the front door. Keith stopped just short, remembering that the door still wouldn't open for him. "Fuck!" It would take forever to open the door when his hands were this cold.

 _Here, let me._ Lance murmured, his voice cool like the ocean. The voiced flowed through Keith like an ocean of magic boiling to the surface.

The door flew open with so much energy the hinges shattered.

"What the fuck was that?" Keith whispered.

 _Teamwork._ Lance chided, urging Keith forward.

Keith didn't have time to marvel at the power he had just wielded, instead racing to the bedroom, tucking the incident away in his mind for later. He grabbed his unpacked bag from earlier and quickly filled it with everything he needed from the room. Books and camping supplies were haphazardly packed away in the leather knapsack, until Keith was satisfied they'd be able to make it to the next magical providence over.

"Let's go!" He raced back to the front door, throwing the back pack on his back and adjusting Lance's body inside his jacket. He raced outside only to recoil in shock when Pidge sat waiting for him, standing next to his dismantled bike.

"I'm sorry Keith." Shiro's voice came from somewhere behind him. Keith ducked instinctively, knowing what was coming, but it was too late. The world flashed with purple lighting before disappearing all together. The last thing Keith heard before he hit the ground was the sound of Lance's inhuman shriek.

____________________________________________________________

Keith woke up in a void. Cold air kissed his skin in flowing whispers, like Keith was floating in the depths of the cool ocean. He looked around, expecting to see someone familiar. The name tugged at his mouth, but it couldn't seem to pass his lips.

A blue light hummed around Keith, giggling and cool against the Red Paladin's warm body. Keith's skin glowed red as if dull embers sat under his skin, and a dry heat welled up inside him.

The blue light curled around Keith's shoulder with a hum of energy. It nipped playfully at his ears, swimming freely through the cool void.

Keith ran his fingers through the energy, watching the cool blue energy disperse and reform around his fingers, icy cold against his hands. 

The blue energy slipped from Keith's reach, padding forward, teasing him with little sideways glances and quirks of his head. 

Keith grunted in frustration, following the blue thin energy through the void.

The red energy under Keith's skin pulsed, burning underneath the young wizard’s skin. It swirled angrily around his shoulders, pulsating with heat.

The blue energy swirled around Keith's feet, urging him forward. Keith stumbled around the swirl of blue particles, the red energy pulling his body forward. The red energy pulled at Keith's skin.

Keith stepped forward, letting the blue and red energies pull him through the empty space.

Suddenly a heap of mass sat in front of him. It was the prone form of a boy, thin and lanky, curled into the the fetal position.

The blue light spilt from Keith, nosing the prone figure. Looking closer Keith felt that name tugging at his lips, but the smooth features of the boy escaped his memory.

The blue feline rolled, pushing against the prone figure. The red energy pushed against his fingers, trying to escape from his body. Keith body burned, like when he used magic for the first time.

The red magic curled and growled at Keith's fingertips, itched and scratching to get out. 

So Keith let it out.

The red shape grabbed the blue form by the back of the neck, plunging the blue energy into the prone form in a delicate spark of purple.

The boy's eyes flew open, his whole body glowing an unearthly blue the shimmered under the light. His body spasmed under Keith's touch, cool skin alight in a beautiful display of fireworks.

Keith watched the colors under the boy's skin, mourning the loss of his own magic.

The boy sat up, grabbing Keith's face, eyes still glowing with unnaturally bright light. The tip of the boy's nose touched against Keith's ice cold against Keith's hot skin, and he spoke with three voices each distinctly different and ancient.

 _"You are mine."_ The voice was ice cold, volcanic ash, and it was familiar and distorted.

The boy pulled Keith forward, locking their lips in a passionate display.

Keith screamed as he felt lava being poured down his throat, magic being regurgitated into his system faster then his body could handle. He felt it burning through his system, pouring from every opening in his body, Keith felt his body temperature sky rocket as something powerful and ancient settled under his skin.

Keith opened his mouth around the boy's lips and screamed. 

"Keith!" A hand shook him awake, cold and stiff against Keith's prone shoulder.

Keith opened his eyes to see Shiro's prosthetic arm resting against his shoulder. The red wizard recoiled at the touch, pulling to the far side of the bed. The black paladin was a mess of scratches and bandages, sadly smiling at the boy on the bed. They sat in a hospital room, not unlike the ones in the med bay of the Castle designated for the paladins of Voltron.

"What do you want Shiro?" Keith's face was harsh, but his voice crooned softly. 

"Look Keith..." Shiro rubbed a band aid on the side of his face, eyes sad and lonely. "I know we may not seem like the best people to you right now, but I swear Pidge and I didn't know the full extent of what Allura wanted with you. We knew she had a lot of repressed feelings against you and your..." Shiro hesitated, uncertainly glancing at Keith's face. "Heritage."

"Do you think I'm a monster?" Keith whispered, glancing at his hands.

"No." Shiro said firmly, his hand once again settling against Keith shoulder.

Keith let it sit firmly, not moving away from the hand yet.

"I want to know the truth. Everything." Keith said firmly, violet eyes boring into Shiro's face. "And I want it from you Shiro."

"We should wait until Lance is up. Get everything at once." Shiro murmured, rubbing his bandages once again. Keith leaned in closer, trying to get a good look at the scratches all over Shiro's body.

"Where's Lance? What happened to you?" Keith asked, his voice coming out in short bursts.

Shiro let out a snort of laughter, rubbing the large patches of bandages on his shoulder. "Lance went sort of feral after I knocked you out. He got me pretty bad. He's fine now, he's sleeping."

Keith hesitantly relaxed back into the bed, hand catching on the side of the bed. "Feral?"

"When I hit you over the back of the head Lance sort of started glowing and then he just attacked me full fury." Shiro pulled his sleeve up to show Keith the extent of some of the scratches. They looked relatively light, but Keith knew they probably stung.

"That seems unusual?" Keith asked confused, rubbing the back of his head.

"His attachment to you seems a little deep for people who just meet." Shiro said honestly, looking at Keith with expectant eyes.

"How's Allura?" Keith shot back, eyebrow quirked mischievously. 

Shiro blushed bright red, eyes darting down. "That's not... I can't Keith. There's a lot of rules against it."

"What?!" Keith spluttered, sitting up a little straighter, even though it made his head dizzy.

"Yeah. I guess you wouldn't know because you didn't ever have to take any of the history classes." Shiro muttered, leaning back casually in his chair. "Familiars have to start any relationships for it to be consensual. Goes back to when wizards used to force familiar into bonding ceremonies."

"Wait isn't that supposed to be a deep emotional connection." Keith asked confused.

"Sex or any form of physical intimacy can trigger it." Shiro said sadly, his body language stiff. "That's why my hands are sort of tied." He leaned forward clasped hand settling on his forehead.

"Allura is passionate. She's driven. It's not always a good thing, but I can't help but be drawn to her." Shiro whispered.

"I'm not her biggest fan right now." Keith admitted, pulling away slightly from Shiro and fiddling with the bandage on his head. 

"She's no ones’ fan right now. Even Coran's." Shiro mentioned, fingers twitching uncertainly against the bed sheets. "We all knew she was cataloguing you to a point for information, but I didn't realize how in depth she had gone with it."

"I feel violated. I know you understand what that means." Keith whispered. "I'm glad that I made Altea a little safer because of it, but I wish she had told me..."

Shiro was uncharacteristically quiet, words of assurance caught in the back of his throat. Keith hands grasped the sheets, fingers the same color as the starchy blankets. The silence hung heavy in the air between the two like thick smog, suffocating them with each heavy breath.

"I can't control what happened in the past, and I wasn't aware the extent Allura had pushed her..." Shiro seemed to role the words around in his mouth, trying to find the right word for Allura's treatment of Keith. His voice faltered when he couldn't seem to find a word tactful enough for the situation, dark eyes searching the floor for someway to ease the tension. "What matters is now that I'm aware I'm going to step up and be a better leader to all of you."

"You are a good leader." Keith interrupted. 

"A better leader would have..." Shiro swallowed his words, lost in thought. "It's hard Keith. We're at war; ethics and morality mean less. However, I shouldn't have sacrificed mine because of it though."

"Why didn't you let me go." Keith asked, hands fidgeting with the bed sheets. 

"We still need you." Shiro answered. Keith shifted angrily, trying to shift away from Shiro again in frustration, but the older man held tightly onto the boy's shoulder. "Not for the tests or experiments don't worry about that. We'll explain when everyone's together."

Keith settled down a little, eye still glaring suspiciously at the Black Paladin. Shiro looked like he wanted to say more, but the door in the corner swung open, Hunk hesitantly peeking through the doorway. "Uh Lance is up so Coran told me to come get you." The large Polynesian nervously tapped his fingers together with a smile.

"We're coming Hunk." Shiro said with a tense smile, Keith glanced sadly up at the familiar.

"Is Lance okay?" Keith asked hesitantly.

"He's fine." Hunk smiled, eyes shifting between the two Paladins. "He put up a hell of a fight."

Keith let out a little laugh at the sparkle in Hunk's eye and the shudder that Shiro’s body gave. 

"I think we'll be fine." Shiro said to Keith with a sad smile.

"Eventually." Keith whispered, pulling himself from the bed with a sigh.

__________________________________

 

When Keith finally stopped avoiding the situation at hand and put on his clothes, Shiro herded him into the War Room with everyone else. Keith's eyes automatically found Lance's slatted eyes across the room. The cat blinked a few times, murmuring words of encouragement to Keith through their bond which burned brighter than before. 

The silvery gray cat turned back to the white cat next to him. Lance looked like he was berating Allura, her ears slightly pressed back and her head ducked away. Keith wondered what he was saying to her, but the look on Hunk's face quickly told Keith that whatever it was Lance was saying to the Princess, it was terrifying.

When Coran came bounding through the door, the room fell silent all attention shifting to the ginger tabby. The man shifted before taking a seat between Shiro and Allura, glancing over the people within.

"Now I know things are a little tense with everyone right now, but if we could just sit down and talk it out, I'm sure everything would work out all right. Every single one of you is important right now." The ginger smiled, his mustache twitching in anticipation.

Shiro stood up, looking around the roundtable with gentle eyes. "The Order of Voltron was created for a very specific reason. It's not the reason that you were told when you first joined."

"Voltron is a weapon." Allura added, sitting defiantly despite the tension pointed at her. "My father created it a long time ago to act as a protector in case of war. What he didn't realize is that just creating the weapon would cause the war. The natural wizards didn't like how the weapon favored familiar dependent wizards even though the weapon relied on the familiars to process the raw energy running through the machine. They split, defaulting on old laws and taking up an old man we hadn't used in centuries, Galra."

Keith shifted uncomfortably in his chair when a few glances turned towards him.

"The leader of the Galra, Zarkon, was the original black paladin. He knew that by turning the entire natural wizard population from us he could effectively remove Voltron from the equation. The black paladin must be a natural wizard; the amount of magical energy he would need to create by himself is impossible for a familiar wizard. However, we found a loophole to that." Allura continued.

Once again a few eyes turned towards Keith, who glanced helplessly at Lance.

"Me." Shiro nodded, pulling the eyes away from the Galra paladin. "As a magically augmented wizard I have the ability to create huge quantities of magic without the use of a familiar, though it puts a toll on me physically. I can be the next black paladin."

Coran interjected. "As soon as we figured out Shiro could pilot the Black Lion we quickly searched for the other paladins."

"Wait pilot a lion?" Pidge interjected, sitting up in their chair. "What does that mean?"

"Voltron is a machine made of the auras of five different paladins. Each individually manifests itself as a lion. Together they form Voltron, a machine capable of turning pure quintessence into attacks of enormous size." Allura explained. "Each paladin represents a very distinct part of what Voltron stands for."

"And we're all paladins for the giant robot thing?" Hunk asked, looking around the room in confusion.

Coran looked at Shiro and Allura nervously. "We're not quite sure about that actually."

"We think we know who is piloting the Green and Yellow Lions but the Red and Blue Lions are still a mystery to us." Shiro continued.

"The Lions are sentient to a certain degree. They choose their paladin just as much as a paladin chooses them." Allura explained. "We've introduced magical energy to the Green and Yellow lion and they've reacted positively to it. However, the Red and Blue Lions haven't given us so much as a whisper."

"Until this morning right before Shiro, Hunk and Pidge confronted Keith at his house." Coran interrupted.

Keith blinked, glancing at Lance with wide eyes. The feeling of ancient magic filling his body and the door flying off it's hinges rang through Keith's memory.

 _The door..._ Lance whispered, shifting nervously on his feet.

"What happened?" Allura asked, looking at Keith accusingly. She saw the nervous glance he threw at lance and pounced. "Did you do something to Lance?"

"No that's not it at all!" Keith screamed, hand gripping the arms of his chair. "We were in such a hurry and I couldn't open the front door without magic so Lance let me borrow a little."

"What?" Coran startled from his seat. "You... Lance let you use his magic?"

"Yes." Keith nodded.

"That's not possible. You'd need a bond and natural wizards aren't traditionally compatible with familiars. You'd need a more physical form of contact." Pidge stated matter-of-factly.

Lance glared at her from across the room and let out a petulant meow.

"Do it again." Allura demanded. The room went quiet.

"Allura that door they opened together was completely blown off it's hinges. If Keith can use Lance's power the raw magic he can wield would be unprecedented." Shiro warned, looking at her from across Coran.

"Then something simple." Allura snapped, "Like a spark or water or something?"

"I really don't think this is a good idea." Keith hedged.

 _I'm game to put on a show._ Lance crooned in Keith's ear.

Keith shot him a cold look, trying not to smile at Lance's mischievous grin.

"Go ahead." Shiro prompted reassuringly.

Keith concentrated on the space above the table, a tad higher than their heads. Lance nodded and Keith closed his eyes, the power rushed cool and steady through Keith body, boil in his stomach before his violet eyes flew open and the entire space above their heads exploded in a flash of flames.

The entire table recoiled and Keith could feel the oxygen disappear from the room. Shiro's hands flew into the air containing the blast and replenishing the oxygen in the room. 

"That shouldn't have been possible." Allura looked both awed and frustrated at the miraculous display. "The bond I created shouldn't allow this form of transference to occur. Keith shouldn't even be able to process familiar magic."

Coran pinched the tip of his singed moustache with a sizzle. "I'm going to check Keith's charts again. Both energy and physical." He left the room quickly, dragging Pidge and Hunk with him.

"Shiro needs time to discharge magically. I'll help him with that." Allura stated nervously, Shiro nodded with a weak chuckle.

"Are we just breaking until we figure this out? Does this have something to do with my magic?" Keith asked, confused by everyone's erratic behavior.

Allura looked at Keith helplessly. "Keith whatever is happening to you has us all completely baffled. Coran needs to comb through your DNA and see what is causing this and if it can..." She trailed off, her hand on Shiro's shoulder.

"If it can be used against us." Keith finished with a snort. "Typical."

 _She's right though._ Lance countered, slinking over to Keith.

"Keith. Stay in med bay for the night." Shiro gritted out, his arm glowing with energy.

"What?" Keith sputtered, glaring at the weakened black paladin. "I'm not going to run."

"Just do it Keith." Shiro commanded, voice harsh. He leaned heavily against Allura who had shifted to help support his weight. Allura’s eyes were filled with concern as she lead Shiro from the room, leaving Keith and Lance alone.

 _You think we can still share a bed? The sickbay beds are tiny and you aren't getting any thinner._ Lance teased as he watched everyone disperse.

"You aren't helping." Keith growled, scooping the cat into his hands.

 _Carry me away to your evil hideout, my dark mistress._ Lance batted playfully at Keith's hair.

Keith laughed, bouncing the feline in his arms. "Why are you in my life?"

Lance's ears flickered nervously as he looked up to Keith. _Fate, I guess._

Keith ignored the way his face heated up, walking Lance back to his hospital room. "I had a weird dream."

 _Kinky._ Lance teased.

"There was this boy and this red and blue light. I could feel my magic again, but also something ancient. What if this has something to do with Voltron and the Lions?" Keith asked. Lance tilted his head in thought, blinking owlishly at the Red Paladin.

 _Look Keith a lot has happened today. Let's sleep it off and if you have another dream we can talk about it. I'm sure there's a lot we don't understand yet._ Lance nosed at Keith's arm, never breaking eye contact.

The dark haired wizard nodded, his head throbbing from the aftereffects of Shiro knocking him out. 

Keith opened the door to the med bay private room, letting Lance go at the door. The silvery cat streaked towards the bed, jumping up and getting comfortable on the starchy sheets. Keith closed the door behind him and shut off the light, painfully aware of Lance's eyes as he pulled off his pants.

"Lance do you have a wizard? Like someone waiting for you?" Keith asked quietly, slipping underneath the sheets and giving Lance his space.

The familiar shuddered besides Keith, shocking the wizard. _Can we talk about this tomorrow?_ Lance's voice was sad and uncertain.

"Yeah sorry." Keith felt stupid, of course Lance had someone. Keith breath caught in the back of his throat and his chest ached, the paladin shifted away from the feline next to him, turning his back to his housemate.

 _Night Keith. Thanks for letting me sleep next to you._ Lance reassured, pressing back into Keith's back.

"It helps me too.” Keith returned half-heartedly. He wasn't sure how much sleep he was going to be able to get tonight, there were too many questions he needed to solve. 

He sat for a while, listening to Lance’s soft snores and watching the lights in the hallway

 _... Keith..._

The Red Paladin turned over expecting to see the other side of the hospital room, however instead the floor fell away underneath the bed to reveal the void. Keith looked down and saw he was floating once again. "Damn that was fast." Keith whispered into the nothingness of his dream.

 _... Keith..._

The voice sounded ancient, like a volcano bubbling over into the ocean, spitting and hissing steam. Keith turned, looking for the source of the voice, but there was nothing but the void around him.

 _Keith._ The voice was different this time and Keith almost bumped into the mysterious boy from his dreams. The boy giggled, grabbing onto Keith's shoulder and wrapping around him with long lanky legs. _You're mine._

Keith blushed, the boy's voice was familiar but Keith couldn't place the sound. The boy's skin glowed blue where their bodies made contact, clashing with the red light under Keith's skin. The boy laughed at this, running his fingers across Keith's skin and grinning at the play of colors. _We look so good together. Like this._ The boy whispered hotly into Keith's ear.

Keith swallowed, not used to this kind of attention. His eyes fluttered shut at the feeling of a tongue tracing his jawline.

 _You like that, cariño?_ The boy whispered, blue eyes flashing in the light. His fingers played with the hem of Keith's shirt tracing the muscle of his hip to the seam of his underwear. Keith struggled to breath, his eyes flashing closed at the feeling of rough fingertips against the thin band of elastic. 

_Oops._ The boy whispered, his hand slipping over the soft cotton of Keith boxers and rubbing.

Keith choked, his hip stuttering under the touch. 

_God, I bet you taste so good._ The boy whispered seductively, drawing a whine from Keith's throat. _I can't wait to strip you down and devour you._

"I... I..." The hand on Keith's dick tightened, effectively cutting off Keith's words. Keith keened, his hands grasping at the short brown hair of the boy trying to get some leverage.

 _Ah. Ah. Ah._ The boy's head pulled back instinctively with the tug on his hair but he didn't shift focus from his hand on Keith's underwear. _You're so close. Don't distract me._

The glowing hand released Keith, reaching up and pulling the waistband of Keith's pants away from his skin and letting it snap.

Keith grunted, releasing his hold on the boy's hair. The boy's other hand snaked up the back of Keith's spine, supporting the red wizard as he spasmed in his hands. The boy giggled at Keith's little noises, using his hand to deftly pull the underwear down, exposing Keith's pulsing member.

 _For me?_ The boy kissed Keith's cheek, his eyelashes tickling Keith cheekbones. _Thank you._

Keith had never felt so hot in his life. The boy's cool skin burned blue against Keith's flushed red skin, forcing a shiver from the Red Paladin's overstimulated body. Keith caught the eye of the boy, staring into their blue depths as the the boy's cool wet hand stroked faster and faster, until everything was glowing. Keith's eyes flickered shut from the light or the pleasure. He was so close. 

_Mine._ The voice distorted, and pain flashed through Keith's body. He caught a flash of violet skin and glowing yellow eyes before he was catapulted from the dream and back to reality.

Keith tensed, eyes frantically searching the room. The hospital bed felt cramped and hot. Keith swallowed, super aware of the giant hard-on he was still sporting from his dream. The bed next to Keith shifted, and the wizard felt a warm leg wrap around his waist. 

Keith froze, the warm leg nuzzling his hard-on was definitely not feline. Keith swallowed hard, attempting to pull himself out of the very human arms he was wrapped in. He shuffled backwards, letting out a light groan when his aching erection was rubbed against the leg wrapped around him.

The figure next to him shifted underneath the covers, exposing a lean and muscular back complete with two sinfully cute dimples right above his covered ass.

Keith closed his eyes, desperately trying to ignore the fact that not only did Lance have to ability to turn into his human form, but he was also super naked.

Keith tried shifting again, anything to ease the pressure on his groin. 

"Lance..." Keith whispered, squirming under the sheets.

A head shifted underneath Keith's right arm, silky hair tickled the inside of Keith's ribs. "Mmm..." The hands around Keith tightened, causing the young paladin to jackknife at the pressure.

"Lance I have to go to the bathroom." Keith hissed furiously, not mentioning that the reason he had to go was to jerk it.

"I don't wanna." Lance's breath swirled deliciously against Keith's skin, forcing another squirm from the young paladin.

"Lance please." Keith tried desperately to think of something that would stop his hard on: Coran naked, Weblum stomach, Zarkon...

"Keith you're so warm!" Lance cooed, shimmying under the covers

"Lance!" Keith snapped. 

The familiar let out a pouty hiss, but he released Keith from his clutches. Keith bounded out of the bed and into the small adjacent bathroom ignoring the whine Lance made when he accidentally snagged the sheets.

Keith slammed the bathroom door behind him, pressing a firm hand to his aching crotch. With a few deep breaths he went to the sink, splashing cold water on his face.

Shiro's words from earlier rang in his head. 

_Familiars have to start any relationships for it to be consensual. Goes back to when wizards used to force familiars into bonding ceremonies._

Keith shuddered, he had no claim to Lance. The last thing he wanted was to force anything between the two of them. Lance was his guest for god sake, part of Lance was completely dependent on Keith. Keith didn't even think he could claim a familiar, he was practically useless to Lance.

Keith's chest ached, finally understanding exactly what Shiro meant when he had talked about not being able to act on his feelings.

"Keith?" A hesitant voice called from the other room, snapping Keith out of his daze.

"Uh yeah. Sorry!" Keith flushed the toilet to cover his tracks, running water over his hands. He glanced at himself in the mirror, running his hands through his hair before he was semi satisfied with it.

He slowly swung the door open. Lance had his back turned to Keith, but there was something strangely familiar about Lance's frame. The familiar had commandeered Keith's pants, which squeezed the taller boy's legs, obviously too short for the tan boy.

Keith frowned, everything about this felt eerily familiar, like something from a dream.

"I hope you don't mind that I borrowed these. Wasn't really wearing much last time I shifted." Lance's voice was hollow. The familiar turned to face Keith, blue eyes flashing mischievously in Keith's tight pants.

Keith breath caught in his throat, images flashing before his eyes. Lance was the boy who kept dying in his dream. He rapidly recalled every gruesome detail of Lance's deaths in his dreams.

"What's wrong?" Lance asked, clearly seeing the fear on Keith's face.

Keith took a hesitant step back, his voice dry in his throat. His back hit the wall, the door to the med bay hallway digging into his back. Visions of Lance choking and screaming for help filled his head.

"I... I need Shiro." Keith choked out, his fingers fumbling with the door.

Lance's brow furrowed, glancing at the red paladin in confusion. 

"Sorry." Keith blurted as the lock on the door clicked. Keith swung the door open with a fake smile and darted off down the halls. "Later!" He called over his shoulder.

"Okay?" Lance looked down the hallway in bewilderment.

_____________________________________

 

"SHIRRO!" Keith ran through the halls screaming, ignoring the look he got from the other cadets who gave him a wide birth.

He turned down the wing that Shiro slept in and found the sleek black door. "Shiro! Open up!" He banged on the door with all his might.

"Keith?" He heard the sound of muffled voices on the other side of the door, followed quickly by the sound of the door unlocking. The door opened a crack and Shiro peeked through the door. "What's up?"

Keith eyebrow raised in confusion. "Could you let me in?"

Shiro took a deep breath, and smiled nervously. "Uh in a second."

Keith frowned, before raising an eyebrow once again. "Do you have someone in there?" He grinned.

Shiro shot him a desperate look, as if begging Keith to stop.

"Does Allura know you have someone in there?" Keith teased, his arms crossed across his chest.

"I hope so." A voice called from inside the room.

Keith's eyes widened in shock. "Oh." 

Shiro opened the door to reveal Allura dressed in one of Shiro's shirts and her jeans, her hair pulled up in a messy bun. Shiro glanced at her, slightly misty-eyed, before turning back to Keith. "So what's up?" The Black Paladin ushered the boy into his room.

Shiro's room was just as sparse as Keith's room used to be. One corner was dedicated to maps and reports of rebellion movements, like Shiro had never stopped following Matt's movements. Keith sat in a plain leather seat by the bookshelf, watching Allura and Shiro interact in the small space. Allura settling in the computer chair on the side of the room, starting up a cup of coffee and spinning to face Keith. Shiro opted for the bed, though his eyes never strayed too far from Allura.

"Remember those texts I sent you a few days ago?" Keith started, looking at the pair.

"Uh..." Shiro grabbed his phone, looking through the messages quickly.

"I remember. Something about nightmares?" Allura recalled

Keith nodded, glancing at Shiro expectantly.

"Hey I've been busy." Shiro said in his own defense, much to Keith's amusement.

"I thought that the nightmares might have something to do with my magic loss, since they started the same day." Keith explained.

"What were the dreams about?" Shiro asked, sharing a look with Allura.

Keith blushed, glancing at his hands. "They all have to do with this boy. He's always... taunting me, but whenever I get close to him he starts dying and there's nothing I can do to save him. My magic won't work and there's always someone else I can't see controlling him."

Allura's eyes narrowed. "And you think this has to do with your magic?"

"I did." Keith started. "Until I found out who the boy was. Now I think it's a warning."

"A warning?" Shiro asked, confused.

"A warning to stay away from Lance." Keith said finally.

Allura's eyes went cold and she shared another look with Shiro.

"I think we should see what Coran found last night, then get the team together." Shiro said firmly.

"Keith? Did you feel as if something ancient was trying to talk to you?" Allura asked quietly, her poured herself a cup of coffee and nursed it against her chest.

"Yeah. I always thought it was the boy, I mean Lance, but now I realize it was something else. But I'm not sure what." Keith held Allura's gaze firmly, seeing the uncertainty in her eyes.

"We need to find Coran." Shiro interrupted, placing a firm hand on Allura's shoulder.

The princess held Keith's gaze for a little longer before nodding. "You two go do that. I'll change and then round up everyone else. I need to talk to Lance privately as well. Not about this, but about something else." She added at Keith's shocked look. "I think we might be closer to defeating Zarkon than we originally thought." 

Shiro smiled at her, and her gaze softened.

Keith snorted, standing and heading the door to give them some space.

"Keith?" Allura prodded. "May I have a word?"

"Sure." Keith hesitated at the door, glancing back at Shiro. Shiro shrugged, but headed out the door.

"I'm going to find Coran. We can all meet in the War Room." Shiro said, before shutting the door behind himself.

"I wanted to apologize." Allura started, her voice hesitant. "I let my hatred get in the way when it's very obvious that you have no knowledge of a connection to the Galra. I let that hate blind me and I almost lost a friend in the process."

Keith watched her tensely, hands crossed against his chest.

"Please forgive me Keith. If not now, then sometime in the future. I have a feeling we're going to need you if we want to win this war."

Kevin sighed. "I don't know if today is the day for forgiveness, but nothing will keep me from fighting alongside you Princess. That's a promise."

Allura smiled politely. "I suppose that's all I deserve for now." She took another sip from her coffee.

"And Allura. If you even think about hurting Shiro I will find out." Keith added.

Allura choked on her coffee, spraying the hot liquid on Shiro's shirt.

Keith laughed, opening the door and leaving the familiar to herself.

_______________________________________

Keith disappeared into the War Room, waiting for everyone to gather once again in the room. Pidge and Hunk trickled in first, both throwing quick smiles at Keith before turning back to some blueprints Hunk had laid out on the table.

Next Coran and Shiro walked in. Coran looked exhausted but he sent a smile and a thumbs up at Keith, waving charts and mumbling something about DNA trails. Shiro hushed Coran, sitting next to the older man and helping him compile his notes.

Allura and Lance entered last. Allura had gotten Lance some traditional Altean clothes and Keith could help the flush that rose to his face when he saw how well they fit the boy. Lance smiled at him, but he still looked completely confused by Keith's earlier attitude.

Allura stood drawing all the attention in the room to her. "Yesterday we talked about answering question. However, we left with more questions than when we started. However, many good things have occurred overnight. Lance has fully healed and gained control of his human form again, Coran has discovered something unprecedented in Keith's DNA, and Shiro and I believe we have found the Red and Blue Paladins."

She smiled brightly, motioning to Coran.

"Keith, my boy. I want to apologize; we probably would have found this a lot sooner if we hadn't been so short-sighted." Coran began, waving a hand. A series of DNA sequences spread across the table. "This is Keith's DNA." Coran explained, before waving his hand and throwing another DNA sequence next to it. "This is Galra DNA."

The two pieces of DNA looked exactly the same to Keith.

Pidge sat up suddenly, glasses glinting as they looked closely at the two samples. "They're not the same. The proteins are similar, but they're bonded differently." 

Coran nodded with a smile. "Keith is only partially Galra. The other half of him is Altean by what I can see."

"I'm half familiar?" Keith asked curiously.

"Yes..." Coran answered. "Your ancestry is strange, because even though you are half- natural wizard and half-familiar your magic acts more like a familiar dependent wizard would."

"I need a familiar?" Keith asked, attempting to keep the excitement from his voice.

"Your body isn't able to create magic on it's own like we thought, but it is able to take the energy a familiar gives you and amplify it. Essentially like an atomic bomb. This is unprecedented and I believe there's a lot of untouched potential in you." Coran smiled, pulling the reports from the table.

"We believe that Keith and Lance are a match for the Red and Blue Paladin of Voltron." Allura added, eyeing the two young boys.

Keith's head spun at all the new information. He could be Lance's Wizard; they could be a team. He wanted to laugh he was so giddy.

He glanced up at Lance, hoping to see the same joy in his friend's face. He quickly sobered when he saw the sick look on Lance's face.

"I can't do it." Lance said quietly, his face hollow.

Allura turned to the boy, her face sad. "Lance we talked about this. He can't hurt you."

"He's still my wizard, Allura. I can never escape that. I can never be whole again." Lance whispered, his hand balled tightly in his lap.

Allura brushed the boy's hair from his face, whispering words of encouragement. "It's already fading; you can see the signs Lance."

The boy choked, nodding. He glanced up at the rest of the people, wiping a stray tear from his eye. "I guess it's time for me to tell my story." Allura nodded, running her finger through his hair soothingly.

"I was born to a large family." Lance started. "2 brothers and 4 sisters, each louder than the next. One day we were doing some routine work cleaning up residual magical energy when the Galra attacked." 

Lance paused, obviously having trouble with his story. "They killed my papi. My mami told me to take the little ones and run. I managed to grab Benji and Mia and run but a soldier saw me and followed me. They ripped the babies from my maw. Mia cried and cried, I tried to fight them, but we can't use magic like they can."

Lance's hand was tight around Allura's wrist, his knuckles white. "They split us up. I was taken to this camp. They had these giant pits. They would throw hundreds of us in the pits, enough that we couldn't shift into our human forms without fear of squashing others. Then they would dump pure quintessence on us. A lot of familiars died, unable to handle the energy spike or going feral because they couldn't change into their human form. They would leave the dead in the pit to rot next to us."

"I was there for months. We'd soak up pure quintessence and they'd ring it out of us at the end of the day. I hated it. I wished constantly that someone would take me away." Lance looked up, making eye contact with Keith. "I regret ever making that wish."

Allura squeezed Lance's hand, urging him to go on. 

"One day a man came to the camp. His name was Lotor, he was the prince of the Galra Empire. The soldiers pulled a few of us out of the pits and made us shift into our human forms. He made us do things, tested us. Then he took me and this girl from the pits. At first I thought noting could be worse than the pits, then he collared us."

Keith flashed back to the dark laughter and Lance choking on a golden collar.

"He gave us knew names and treated us like dolls. He kept us high, I don't even remember half of the things he made us do. I do remember when he'd take us to the bigger events though. That was the only time he took us off the drugs. I learned a lot about the hierarchy of the empire that way. I got good at diplomacy, and pleasing the Galra."

Lance's shoulders slumped as if he was defeated. "One day, he took me and Emha into a room in the house one day. Neither of us had been high for weeks. He told us that only one of us could survive and that whoever survived would get to be his familiar." Lance choked. "Emha begged me to kill her, over and over saying she couldn't handle living with him any longer. So I put her out of her misery and that night he forced himself on me." Lance broke once again, sniffling. “I didn’t even know her real name.”

Pidge let out a little startled noise, before ducking their head in embarrassment. 

Lance continued. “I knew I had to get out of there after that. I was almost impossible to leave him because of the bond, but after one particularly bad night where he tortured me for the fun of it I snapped. I jumped out the window and slipped my collar. I ran and I ran, until my instincts lead me here.”

"Lance knows about Galra troop placements and the inner workings of the Galra empire. He also knows about the motivation behind the movements. His insider knowledge will be invaluable to us." Allura stopped Lance with a firm hand on his shoulder.

Lance tensed, his blue eyes flashing in the light.

"We've been working on a battle plan based off the information Lance gave us earlier at the week. We'd like to get you all to at least meet the Lions. In the end they choose who their paladin is, not us." Shiro stated, looking at Lance with kind but firm eyes.

"I don't understand. If Lotor was Galra how could he even claim you?" Pidge asked curiously.

"Lotor was half-Galra and half-Familiar, like Keith." Lance stated quietly, causing all the blood in Keith's body to run cold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I KNOW I'VE BEEN GONE. :''O I'm so sorry. Here's a juicy update. 
> 
> Next chapter they meet the lions and Keith and Lance talk about their feelings.


	5. I Want to Get Better

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Paladins start up their battle training, something that's routine for all of them except Lance. However Keith crosses a line and jeopardizes his relationship with the familiar. Can they recover?
> 
>  
> 
> There is more mention of Lance's time with Lotor for those of you who aren't fans of that. It's pretty tame, but if you really want to skip it you can. The basic details will get explained in the next chapter. It happens during Keith's dream so be warned.

They talked battle plans for a while after that, but Allura could tell there was little motivation in the room after Lance’s story. Keith was too focused on Lance, Pidge and Hunk were a nervous wreck, and Lance’s self-confidence had plummeted after reliving the worse days of his life. Shiro tried to steer the conversation into a positive direction, but eventually even he felt the effects of the sadness in the room.

“Why don’t we go see the lions.” Allura interrupted, attempting to pull everyone from their funk. “Bonding with them is a very important task that will take some time.”

Shiro gave her a thankful smile before nodding. “I think that’s a great idea! Starting a dialogue is very important for creating a relationship with the lions.”

“Unless your lion sees you for the trash you are.” Keith muttered darkly to himself. Though his heart hurt when he saw Lance’s quiet nod of agreement at Keith’s words.

Shiro frowned, shooting a look at Keith. “Let’s all try and be positive guys. I know we’ve had a rough morning, but we’ve got a pretty short window until Lance’s information goes bad.”

“The sooner we get you bonded with those lions the sooner we can defeat Zarkon! This is the closest we’ve come in 10,000 years.” Coran chirped happily

Pidge looked completely unimpressed. “Look I’ve lived in the Castle practically my whole life and I’ve never seen a giant mechanical lion. Let alone five of them.”

“Do you think I would leave the world’s most powerful weapon in plain sight?” Allura teased, attempting to lighten the mood. “They’re completely hidden.”

“Are they in that basement no one ever goes to?” Hunk asked, scratching his forehead.

Allura looked at Hunk incredulously. “How did you know there’s a basement to the Castle?”

Hunk pulled out a schematic for the castle and plopped them on the table. “Was doing some mechanical tinkering with the elevators and found these in the library.”

“And you kept it?” Allura picked up the schematics and looked them over.

“It’s got some pretty handy shortcuts between the two cafeterias.” Hunk smiled, his stomach rumbling at the thought of food.

“I’ll be taking this back.” Allura handed the schematics to Coran who rolled them away. “And we can eat after we meet the lions.”

“Let’s go then.” Shiro smiled

The elevator ride was cramped and quiet but Keith managed to worm his way next to Lance. The familiar seemed hesitant around Keith since the reveal of his true parentage, but he didn’t recoil from the red paladin’s presence like Keith had though he would.

There was a lot Keith wanted to say, but he refrained with so many others around. Instead he just placed a hand on Lance’s arm, silently supporting the familiar. Lance hesitantly melted into the touch, leaning into Keith in the cramped lift. Keith could smell the scent of the ocean on Lance’s hair and his hand itched to pull the taller boy close. Keith stopped himself though, remembering that Lance had already been thorough enough for one day.

Keith caught Shiro’s knowing eye, and shot him an eyebrow over Pidge’s head.

When the lift finally landed Keith could feel an unnatural hum of energy in his ears, like something was calling him.

“I can feel her.” Lance whispered, and the other nodded feeling similar energy spikes.

Allura grinned at Shiro across the elevator.

The doors to the elevator finally opened, and Keith felt his skin crawl. The magic here was ancient and far more powerful than Keith could imagine. It made him feel both giddy and anxious.

The basement was huge and housed only the five giant lions. Four of them where surrounded by magical wards that pulsed in their presence. The one standing at the head of the pride, the Black Lion, had no shield up, though it’s eyes glowed knowingly when they entered.

Lance was the first to step out of the elevator, pulling Keith by the hand like his life depended upon it.

They stopped in front of the Blue Lion, drawn to it energy. Keith looked into it’s eyes and saw a flash of life. Lance stepped forward hesitantly, dropping Keith’s hand. “She’s calling to me.”

Keith looked at Lance in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know but she’s practically screaming for me.” Lance reached out hesitantly, touching the blue shield with his hand.

The magic of the the shield was sucked into Lance’s body, his skin glowed blue with the hum of energy, practically vibrating. The Blue Lion pulled back and let out a great roar, shaking the foundation of the castle. Lance fell to his knees at her feet, tears streaming down his face.

Keith went to rush forward in shock, only to be stopped by Shiro’s firm grip. “This is something he has to do alone.” Shiro whispered, pulling Keith back.

Lance’s tears started to shine, bright blue against his face. They floated from his body and back to the Lion, who bowed her head quietly, giant maw open. Lance stood, not even bothering to wipe the tears from his face and stepped inside.

“Are we all going to have to cry, because I didn’t sign up for public crying.” Pidge asked plainly.

“Each bond is different. If you don’t want to cry, I doubt your lion will make you.” Shiro answered calmly. “Now why don’t you all go try.”

The other three split, wandering to their respective lions.

Keith felt drawn to the Red Lion, but there was no screaming in his head. The Red Lion stood proudly, like a cold statue, judging Keith’s every move. There was no flash of life, like Keith had seen in the Blue Lion.

Ignoring the doubt that sat in Keith’s stomach he pressed his hand to the barrier, just like Lance had done.

And nothing happened.

Keith glanced around, seeing the Hunk had successfully gotten his lion’s shield down. Pidge was still eyeing the Green Lion, as if trying to discern all it’s secrets from a distance. No one had noticed Keith’s panicked movements.

Keith pressed more firmly on the shield.

Nothing happened.

Keith pressed even harder.

Nothing.

Keith put all his weight into the shield.

Nothing.

Keith began to get scared. Why wasn’t this working? Was he not good enough?

Keith took a deep breath and stepped back. Only to hear a quiet chuckle from behind him. He turned to see Allura watching him.

“My father was also the red paladin.” She commented. “It took him an entire week to get her shield down. Much longer than any of the other paladins.”

“King Alfor?” Keith asked, confused.

“Yes. Though he was barely King then.” She walked up and traced the shield of the red lion fondly. “He used to sit here day and night and just talk at her. Hoping she was listening. She’s very picky when it comes to her paladin, that’s why the red paladin branch is always so diverse. Her taste is constantly changing.”

Keith glared at the lion in the shield, arms crossed once again. “What if I’m not the right paladin?”

“Keith I know I may not seem like your biggest fan, but if anyone is the red paladin it’s you.” She let out a sad little smile. “She can sense your fear.”

“My fear? What fear?” Keith asked, trying to make his voice sound even.

“That fear.” Allura poked his chest, looking into Keith’s eyes. “Don’t be discouraged if she doesn’t open up to you just yet.”

With that Pidge let out a whoop of excitement in the background as their lion let out a large purr.

Keith glared at the red lion once again, in that moment he could have sworn he saw a flash of challenge in her eyes.

Keith continued to have no luck with his lion so they all decided to take a break and get lunch. Pidge and Hunk whispered words of encouragement to Keith, which secretly made the red paladin feel worse. Lance simply slipped an arm around Keith, whispering about how he’d beaten the Mullet Head at something once again.

Keith grinned at the words, especially when he heard Lance’s voice in the back of his head whispering comforts.

They took lunch in the cafeteria, and everyone seemed much happier. Keith was still frustrated, but he hid it for the sake of everyone else. Lance seemed much more confident after his visit with the Blue Lion, though he wouldn’t say exactly what had happened between him and the giant magical weapon.

“A real gentleman never kisses and tells.” Lance teased Hunk, shooting a wink at Allura across the table. Everyone groaned at the thinly veiled come on, they had come in a plethora of advance since Lance was finally in his human form, and Keith swallowed the dark tinge of jealousy he felt.

Keith tried not to think about how he fiercely missed the days when Lance had only hit on him.

Pidge and Hunk were both pretty open with their experiences, mentioning that their relationship with their lions didn’t feel that different from their familiar bonds. Hunk even admitted that if he tried hard enough he could hear the Green Lion.

“It’s really hard to do but she seems very wise. From the glimpses I’ve caught.” Hunk sprinkled a little more salt on his dish, tasting it tentatively before smiling and getting a big spoonful.

“I haven’t even tried to hear the Yellow Lion.” Pidge commented, mentally running some calculations. “Do you think I can?”

“It might be easier for Hunk since as a familiar he is constantly in you mind, especially during battle.” Allura warned, sipping her mug of soup. “But I don’t see why you wouldn’t be able to with a little practice.”

Keith shifted at the table, feeling completely left out of the conversation. Lance seemed to notice, but the blue paladin didn’t do much more than shoot Keith a small smile.

Shiro seemed to notice the tension between the two and as soon as Lance finished his meal, the older man pounced. “The wards could sure do with some touching up. Keith why don’t you take Lance and see if he can help you?” The black paladin innocently pushed the food around on his plate, ignoring Keith’s withering glare.

“I don’t know…” Lance started. The words piercing Keith through the heart like arrows.

“We really need to tighten our security and this is the perfect way to do it!” Allura exclaimed, sharing a wickedly mischievous glance with Shiro that only Keith seemed to see.

“Well I guess I could help.” Lance said rather gloomily.

“If you don’t want to come then don’t.” Keith snapped, standing up abruptly from the table. “I’m not going to force you to spend more time with me than you want to.” The red paladin grabbed his plates from the table and stalked out of the room in a rush of angst.

“Keith wait!” Lance called, scrambling to shovel some crumbs in his mouth and follow the disgruntled wizard.

Keith kept going, dumping his plates haphazardly in the cleaning bin before racing out of the cafeteria as fast as he could.

“Wait DAMNIT!” Lance yelled from somewhere behind him.

Keith knew he had the advantage in human form, but it was only a matter of time till Lance shifted and caught up to him on all fours. He broke through the lobby, weaving through the crowd like a pro.

_Keith! Please wait!_ The words flowed cool and calm through Keith’s mind, soothing his pain, but the red paladin just kept running, racing down the magical steps of the Castle.

Keith ran through the town square, ducking through a back alley and slowing to a jog, his breath came in heavy pants. He hadn’t run the much in a long while.

He heard the distinct patter of paws running down the alley, and he almost contemplated standing up and running again, but something in him just gave up.

 _Why didn’t you wait damnit?!_ Lance prodded, racing up the alleyway.

Keith huffed, with a smile. “Wanted to make you work for it.” His hands sat on his knees as he started to catch his breath.

Lance shifted furiously, all quiet fury and pinned Keith to the wall with his body. “You idiot. What the hell do you think you’re doing?” The familiar spat.

“Giving you some space! You obviously need it.” Keith huffed, reveling in the warm press of Lance’s body against him.

“I…” Lance looked at a loss for words, pressing Keith harder into the wall with his frustration. “Look it’s not your fault. It’s mine.”

“It’s not your fault Lance.” Keith said quietly, looking into Lance’s big blue eyes.

“Yes IT IS!” Lance screamed. “I know you’re better than that. I’ve seen it, but I just can’t get over it.”

“That’s not your fault. It will never be your fault.” Keith whispered soothingly, afraid to touch Lance for fear of triggering something.

Lance thought it through, his hands white against the stone walls. Keith could see him mentally tearing himself apart, and an idea popped into his mind.

“Remember what Blue said.” Keith whispered.

Lance blinked, looking up at Keith in confusion. “How do you know…”

“Remember what Blue said.” Keith said a little firmer.

All the fight slumped out of Lance, and he melted into Keith’s chest, head pressed against the stone wall next to Keith. “She said I wasn’t a mistake.” Lance whispered, his breath tickling Keith’s ear.

“And…” Keith encouraged.

“That I’m worth saving. I deserved to be the hero of my own story.” Lance choked. Keith felt a few hot drops against his shoulder but he ignored it.

“I don’t think you can argue with a magical omnipotent thousand-year-old Lion.” Keith joked.

Lance laughed, the tears falling harder now.

Keith shifted against the wall nervously. “Lance. I’m going to hug you now, okay?” He asked

“You don’t have to ask.” Lance choked, shaking his head yes.

“I want to though.” Keith whispered, wrapping his arms around Lance, carefully avoiding the familiar’s neck, remembering the collar. “You’ve been through so much pain Lance. I think you deserve to be asked permission.”

Lance’s presence swirled in the back of Keith’s mind and the red paladin sent friendly thoughts to it. The cool presence expanded, entwining with Keith’s mind in a joyous eruption of color.

Lance’s sobs quieted as Keith nurtured his mind, until he was finally ready to pull away from the hug.

“Let’s go fix that wall.” Lance smiled, wiping the tears from his face.

Keith nodded, ignoring the pulsing feeling in his chest.

Keith walked him to the wall and showed Lance the basic spots where Shiro and Keith usually worked on the wards.

 _So what do you usually do?_ Lance asked, once again perched in Keith’s jacket.

“Uh. Usually Shiro and I lend each other magic and do the ritual in sync.” Keith said, absentmindedly scratching Lance’s head.

 _That must have taken a lot of practice._ Lance purred.

“I sort of clung to Shiro when I first got here so I actually learned pretty quickly. The day he asked me to help was one of my happiest days here.” The memory was bittersweet now, in light of all the secret agendas, Allura had probably ordered Shiro to get Keith to work on the wards or something. Yet Keith still remembered Shiro’s calm smile when he had gone through the motions with Keith over and over again at the border.

 _I’m sure it wasn’t all Allura._ Lance whispered, nuzzling against Keith’s chest.

“Well that’s the problem. I’ll never know.” Keith sighed, running his hands over the golden walls of the wards.

They stood there for a bit, bathing in the golden light.

“Lance would you do me the honor of lending me your power?” Keith asked, rubbing underneath the familiar’s chin.

 _As long as you promise to be my personal scratches slave._ Lance teased, purring even louder.

Keith snorted at that, shaking his head in laughter. “I think that can be arranged.”

Keith felt the cool flood of Lance’s magic well up inside him. He was careful to keep a firm control on the wild magic running through his system, remembering the damage they had caused the last few times. Very slowly, Keith performed the ritualistic dance that accompanied the ceremony, the word flowing through him ancient and perfectly intoned.

Keith imagined Shiro next to him, correcting his form, performing the dance with him. With each deep breath Keith fell deeper and deeper into the ceremony. Lance glowed brightly with a blue light in Keith’s jacket, his magic a steady and even stream into Keith through the connection Allura had created in his mind.

Golden light danced from Keith’s fingertips flowing into the sky and melding with the wards. When the golden light had dispersed Keith opened his eyes, marveling at the deliciously solid look of the wall.

“I’ve never seen it this solid before.” Keith whispered, sticking his hand through the border. “It’s a lot thicker than usual too.”

 _Is that bad?_ Lance asked curiously, craning to see.

“No this is really amazing.” Keith was awed by the wall, which made his and Shiro’s ward look sickly in comparison.

“Lance. How come I can use your magic if I’m not bonded to you?” Keith asked curiously.

The familiar squirmed under Keith’s jacket until the wizard let him out. Lance shifted back to his human form, running his finger through the wards.

“Magic is a gift.” Lance answered. “Just because we aren’t bonded, doesn’t mean I can’t give it freely. Usually it’s the wizards who have trouble receiving it, that’s why bonds exist. Normal familiar wizards can’t process pure quintessence and so they need the bond as a way to process the raw quintessence into something usable. You’re different because you’re partially familiar, so you can convert raw quintessence to a certain degree. If we were bonded I’d be able to give you even more raw quintessence than I can now.” The familiar marveled at the golden light on his skin, he looked beautiful to Keith in this light.

“More power?” Keith asked, incredulously. He could barely contain the magic that Lance gave him now.

Lance laughed at Keith’s tone, punching the red wizard lightly.

“Lance.” Keith asked quietly, unsure. “I have kind of a prodding question.”

Lance’s smile dropped, but he nodded. “Go ahead.”

“If power isn’t really an issue with a half-familiar half-Galra, why would I ever need to bond with you?” Keith asked, knowing Lance understood the real meaning behind the question.

“Possession.” Lance answered quietly. “Marking what’s yours for everyone to see.”

They checked the entire perimeter of the border to find that most of the wards had been renewed in the first ceremony, something that Keith had never seen before. There was only one other spot on the far side of the City that Keith felt was slightly weaker than the others. The performed the ceremony one last time, weaving the new ward barrier with their combined magic.

As soon as they finished, the barrier glittering happily in the sky, the sound of rushing feet came from the distance. Pidge and Hunk came bounding out of the woods, whooping and waving at the other two paladins.

“The barrier looks amazing guys!” Hunk cried, waving his arms.

Pidge ran their hands over the barrier, pulling data from it’s surface and reading the magical code that ran through their fingers. “That some stellar casting Keith, the code is airtight.”

Lance shifted to his human form with a cheeky grin. “Couldn’t have done it without my magic though.“ Lance winked, flexing his arms.

“Of course Lance.” Keith rolled his eyes, sending a quiet thanks through to Lance’s place in his mind.

“Allura wants us to run some training simulations.” Pidge called over their shoulder. “Like team bonding stuff.”

Keith let out a groan of frustration. “Do we have too? We’ve run those a million times.”

“Not with Lance.” Pidge pointed out, turning away from her ward calculations.

“Training simulations?” Lance asked curiously.

“Things like group meditation, trust exercises, and battle training.” Hunk answered. “We’ve all done it lots of times before so it should go fast.”

“Easy for you to say.” Keith grumbled. He didn’t have the best track record with the group training.

 

“Shiro has to do them with us.” Pidge’s eyebrows wiggle knowingly.

“What!?” Keith asked incredulously. “Really?”

“Yeah. Allura’s overseeing our training herself while Coran runs the city.” Hunk finished before shifting and jumping back into Pidge’s backpack.

“Ready?” Keith asked Lance. The familiar nodded shifting midair to land in Keith’s arms.

 _Let’s do this!_ Lance cheered, getting comfortable in Keith’s arms.

The four walked back together, laughing in the light of the setting sun.

 

Keith head finally stopped spinning when the training drone wacked him with the Bo staff.

“Again.” Allura’s voice rang out, forcing a groan from the team. Even Shiro seemed less and less enthusiastic with each run.

“Can we go back to the shocking maze?” Lance asked petulantly.

“Of course we can all do another run in the invisible maze! After we finish this!” Allura’s voice rang out. Everyone groaned.

“Way to go Lance.” Pidge snapped, wiping the sweat from their forehead.

Shiro lay flat on the ground, gasping for air. Keith kicked the black paladin, earning a groan from the oldest member.

“Get up, Dad.” Keith teased, lending a hand to the older wizard. Shiro rolled his eyes, taking the hand and pulling himself to his feet with a groan.

“Guys, can we finish this up pretty quickly? I’m starving.” Hunk whined, holding his stomach.

“I’m confidant we can do it together this time, paladins!” Allura called from the booth.

“Then why don’t you come down here and do it with us!” Pidge yelled back up at Allura’s booth.

“I’m started the simulation now!” Allura chirped.

“Nooooooo!” Hunk wailed, putting his hands in his head.

Mechanical robots popped out of the ground and attacked from all sides. There were 3 this time, each equipped with a glowing Bo staff.

“Lance.” Keith called, arm already outstretched.

 _Got it._ A flood of magic raced through Keith’s body’s manifesting in a giant flaming sword in the palm of Keith’s hand.

“Let’s do this.” Shiro called, hand glowing.

The first robot jumped at Hunk, parried by a rush of Pidge’s magic from their glowing green book.

Another one went after Lance, Keith jumped in front of the hit with a flick of his shield, pulling the Bo staff to the side and opening up a shot for Lance. The familiar jumped at the robot’s legs, knocking over the robot’s center of balance.

Shiro preemptively attacked his, sending a few short jabs at the robot’s abdomen before ducking around it’s wide swing.

“Switch!” Shiro called, swiping at the robot attacking Hunk and Pidge with glowing hand.

Pidge nodded, shifting to fight next to Lance. Keith swung his sword, blocking the attack the third robot aimed at Shiro’s back.

 _Fire breath?_ Lance asked, using Pidge’s shoulder to attack the second robot.

“Not right now!” Keith grunted, going blow for blow with the spinning Bo staff. He need all his concentration to battle off the quick flurry of hits that the bot was hitting him with.

“Switch!” Shiro called, breaking Keith’s concentration.

“No no no no!” Keith yelled, jumping over a low blow. A blow came hard from the side, knocking Keith’s shield from existence. Keith ducked, and blocked another blow that locked with the Bo staff.

“Lance!” Keith called.

 _Got it._ Another surge of magic hit Keith and he regurgitated it in the robot’s face. A stream of fire poured from Keith’s mouth onto the third robot.

“Pidge you ready?” Keith asked, with a cough.

“Switch!” Pidge yelled, book glowing brightly. Wisps flowed from Pidge’s book, wrapping around the glowing burned robot.

“I’ve got a package.” Pidge grinned.

“Receiving package.” Shiro smirked, sending a blast at the bot in front of him and pushing it out.

“Copy.” Keith smirked, helping Hunk clear a back attack.

They all pulled back all at the same time, letting Pidge swing the burning metal bot around the circle.

The room hissed as the metal fused together in a mess of limbs.

Hunk shifted with an exhausted smile. “Okay don’t quote me, but I think we did it.”

Keith collapsed forward next to the unmoving robot. “Oh thank god.”

“Great job Paladins!” Allura cheered. “We can finally take that break!”

“Break?” Shiro choked, pushing his wet bangs out of his face.

Pidge turned to Shiro, putting a supportive hand on the older paladin’s shoulders. “It’s okay Dad. Maybe Mom will let us free eventually.

A mechanical clicking noise filled the room, catching Pidge’s attention. “What the-“

A sharp clank resounded in the room from behind everyone. The mechanical monstrosity pulled up and ripped its Bo staff from the ground. Keith looked up in confusion, seeing the monster loaming over his head.

“Allura! SHUT IT OFF!” Shiro screamed, trying to push himself to his feet.

“Keith!” Pidge screamed, body glowing green.

Keith blinked in shock, the Bo staff just inches from Keith’s face and closing.

“MRREOW!” Lance hit the bot head on, causing it to narrowly miss crushing Keith’s head. The robot shook the familiar hard, flinging Lance into the air.

“Allura!” Shiro screamed, tackling the robot to the ground.

“Lance!” Keith cried, throwing his hand out and attempting to pull magic from his core. The cool feeling he usually felt resisted him, but Keith ignored it, ripping the magic from Lance with a scream.

Lance stopped midair, floating a few feet above the ground.

“Got it!” Allura cried.

Pidge watched Lance’s floating body, slowly walking over to the familiar, eyes wide as they glanced back and forth between Keith and Lance.

Keith was in shock, his body shaking and his eyes glued to the silvery cat.

“Keith, I’m going to grab Lance now. I want you to let him go. Okay?” Pidge said soothingly, wrapping their arms around Lance’s frozen form.

Keith blinked, still shaking nervously.

“Keith let go.” Pidge pleaded, a little more forcefully, now fully supporting Lance.

“Keith!” Shiro snapped, shifting the red wizard’s attention from the blue paladin.

Lance slammed into Pidge, fully cushioned by the green paladin’s arms.

Pidge sat down, Lance shifting in their arms, before collapsing onto the floor.

“What the hell just happened?” Hunk asked in confusion.

Lance jumped out of Pidge’s arms, scrabbling to shift back into his human form. “What the FUCK, Keith!” Lance screamed, physically jumping at the red wizard.

Keith, still in shock, just blinked when Lance grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him.

“You ripped the magic from MY BODY! How the HELL?” Lance screamed, his whole body shaking.

“Lance!” Shiro snapped.

“I don’t know!” Keith rasped, trying to pull the familiar’s hands from his body.

“What do you mean you don’t KNOW?” Lance screamed, shaking the red wizard harder.

Hunk’s big arms wrapped around the lithe boy’s middle, pulling him from on top of Keith.

“How am I supposed to trust you?!” Lance screamed, struggling against Hunk’s arms. “When you can just rip the magic from my body without my permission?”

“I was trying to save you!” Keith cried, fighting against Shiro’s arms dragging him to his feet.

“Well maybe I don’t need you to save me!” Lance countered sharply.

“That’s ENOUGH!” Shiro commanded. “We will talk about this later. For now, we are going to take some personal time APART.”

Hunk pulled Lance out of the room, Allura joined them at the door, shooting an apologetic look at Shiro.

Keith was a bit shaky on his feet when Lance finally left, leaning heavily against Shiro. “God he’s right. What was I thinking?”

“Keith you stopped Lance from hitting a concrete wall with a ton of force.” Shiro soothed, rubbing the red paladin’s shoulders. “I think that’s an acceptable sacrifice.”

“I ripped the magic from his body.” Keith choked. “How is that even possible?”

“When I first came into my magic Hunk and I shared dreams for weeks before we met. The first time we talked I told him about Matt and cried. I didn’t even know who he was.” Pidge’s voice was quiet, soft and low. “The story is the same for almost every consensual familiar bond. Your magic calls to each other, and because that magic is apart of your soul you can’t help but give yourself to the other person. You two probably have the beginnings of a bond and that allowed you to do what need to be done to save him.”

Pidge put a gentle hand on Keith’s shoulder and gave him a sad smile. “It’s obvious that you and Lance can feel that pull, but you’re going to have to be gentle with him. It’s going to take time, but I promise you it’s worth it.”

Keith nodded, rubbing his head. “Look I’m exhausted. I’m going to head out.” He pulled from Pidge and Shiro’s grasp, stomping out of the training facility with his hands in his pocket.

“He’ll be fine. He just needs time to process.” Shiro said, seeing the worried look on Pidge’s face. “Pidge what happened? I know you ran your fingers through that spell.”

“I think Keith stopped time.” Pidge answered, their eyebrows scrunched in confusion. “Not a hundred percent sure though, it was just a glimpse. It could have been an energy conversion or a reverse force spell.”

“Is that even possible? The time thing?” Shiro asked, turning to their resident spell expert.

“When it comes to those two, nothing surprises me.” Pidge chuckled nervously.

“God help us when they finally figure everything out.” Shiro shook his head in awe.

 A few more stressful days of training passed after that, but it was hard. Lance and Keith were tense, both arguing constantly during training.

Battle training went okay for the most part, but Lance was stringent with the amount of magic he let Keith use, always cutting of the mental connection they shared as soon as he could. It made Keith sick with worry, missing the cooling presence in his mind constantly.

Mental training went terribly. Lance refused to initiate a meld with anyone other than Hunk, alienating most of the team in the process. Shiro and Pidge seemed understanding for the most part, but Keith couldn't help but feel horribly responsible.

The times when Keith and Lance had their one on one training was the worst. Allura tried something simple at first, the invisible maze, but Lance continuously ran Keith into dead ends. Keith, who had figured it out early on when Lance had run him into a wall, let the familiar work out his frustration, hoping it would help the blue paladin. After that Allura just let them fight for one on one, channeling their aggression into useful combat skills.

It seemed to help Lance, who ran out of steam after the first few days.

After one particularly tough fight Lance yelled at Keith for going easy on him and letting the familiar win. Keith responded by breaking the hold and pinning Lance with his thighs.

Lance had nodded, taking Keith's hand up for the first time since their big fight.

That night Keith sat awake for the longest time, replaying the fight and Lance’s screams over and over again in his head.

The anger curled up in Keith’s stomach, dark and vicious. He itched to see Lance again, to talk to the familiar and beg for his forgiveness.

Keith took a deep breath, attempting to calm himself down. It wasn’t his place to approach Lance, he needed to wait until Lance was ready to talk to him, respect the familiar’s space. They were already becoming cordial with each other again and Keith didn't want to jeopardize that because he was antsy.

Keith turned to the side of his designated med bay bed, and let out a huff. There was no way Keith was going to get to sleep this way. He let his thoughts wander to the part of his mind that usually pulsed with cool energy, but it was dead silent tonight.

The only sound in the room was Keith’s breathing and the hum of the Castle around him.

The hum…

Keith instantly thought of the challenging glint in the Red Lion’s eyes, remembering the hum of life that the Lions gave off.

The young paladin glared at the door, shifting in the bed again.

“Damn it.” Keith growled, throwing the blankets off of himself.

The Castle at night was empty and quiet, most of the lights were on emergency standby only offering a dim cold light. Keith slipped through the hallways, briefly stopping outside the door to Lance’s temporary room with a conflicted tug at his chest.

The hum grew louder in Keith’s ear, pulling him away from the pain in his chest.

The lady at the lobby desk shot Keith a friendly smile, probably hungry for human interaction. Keith gave her the benefit of the doubt and waved back before taking the elevator father down to the basement.

The path to the Red Lion was easy, easier when Keith could just follow the humming under his skin.

She made no movement to even signify that he had even walked in the room. Not even a cool glint of challenge in her eyes.

“Hey.” Keith said awkwardly, looking up at the giant mechanical lion for the first time since their first meeting.

“So how does this work?” Keith asked, filling the silence of the giant room with words.

The Red Lion sat quietly, not even shifting a muscle. Keith started to get angry, looking for answers and finding none.

“Are you just going to ignore me this whole time?” Keith asked. “Am I not good enough for you huh?”

This caught the Lion’s attention, her eyes flashed in challenge once again.

“I’m worth it too.” Keith growled, remembering what Lance told had said earlier that day.

The lion’s eyes flashed again, and this time Keith saw the challenge for what it was.

“Prove it.” She whispered with her eyes.

“How?” Keith asked. “How can I prove it?”

No response again from the mechanical red lion.

“HOW!?” Keith asked, touching the energy shield red hid behind.

Keith punched the shield with his hand, his temper flaring with each hit.

“I just want to protect him.” Keith said furiously, hitting the shield harder and harder. “I want to protect them all!”

“And I’m going to do it with or without you!” Keith glared at the Red Lion, beating the shield harder.

A growl filled the air and the shield vanished, Keith collapsed with a laugh, adrenaline coursing through his veins.

“For someone who wants a challenge that was surprisingly easy.” Keith hissed, rubbing his bleeding knuckles.

“Did you mean that?”

Keith let out a heavy breath, feeling the Red Lion chuckle back at him in his mind. He turned to see Lance watching him, sitting on one of the giant paws of the Blue Lion.

“Uh which part?” Keith asked.

“That you’re going to protect us.” Lance prodded, watching the red wizard’s face.

“I’m going to try.” Keith answered.

“Keith what are we doing?” Lance asked, pulling his knees up against his chest.

“We’re fighting a war.” Keith stated, sitting back off his knees.

“That’s not what I meant.” Lance sighed, leaning back against the paw. “I meant us.”

Keith opened his mouth and snapped it shut again.

“Yeah I don’t know either.” Lance laughed, it was a hollow and bitter sound. “I’ve never felt like this before.”

Keith swallowed, trying to ignore the way his heart jumped in his chest at Keith’s words. “Is that a bad thing?” Keith asked, his hands curled tightly against his chest.

Lance looked unsure, running his fingers across his knees. “We barely know each other. It’s hardly been a week and everything is already moving way too fast for me.”

“Yeah Pidge tried to explain it to me.” Keith said.

“I bet that went well.” Lance retorted, running a hand through his hair.

“I’m sorry about the other day. I shouldn't have been so reckless.” Keith said, crossing his legs

“The things we can do together. They shouldn’t be possible. I would know.” Lance shook his head incredulously.

“It scares me too.” Keith added, glancing up at the Red Lion. “But it’s not something we have to figure out just yet.”

“But that’s just it, we do. We’re in the middle of a war, even though we aren’t on the front lines yet, we’re going to be soon with these Lions.” Lance’s arms were perched on the tops of his knees, rocking back and forth nervously.

“We don’t.” The wizard said firmly. “I’m going to make sure we have all the time after this to figure out everything.” Keith meant it too. He would give everything to make sure every single person on his team survived this war.

“I hate that I already believe you.” Lance whispered.

Keith chest ached, his eyes burning, as he looked up at Lance. “Do you really mean that?”

Lance laughed. “I don’t know.”

Keith let the silence sit and permeate in the giant room.

“I wasn’t sure what to what to think when you asked if I wanted to sleep next to you that night I woke you up with my nightmare.” Lance commented.

“I don’t think I would have asked if I had known everything.” Keith said.

“I didn’t sleep until that night.” Lance admitted, laughing.

“Me either.” The red paladin admitted. “I was having some pretty bad nightmares too.”

“I remember you saying that.” Lance nodded.

“Then you remember me saying that we should help each other out, right? As friends.” The word friend felt wrong on Keith’s tongue, but he stumbled through them. “We can keep doing that. With the magic and Voltron. Just be friends and figure everything out later.”

“This is different Keith. There’s a line that we can’t cross… a line I’m not ready to cross.” Lance spluttered.

“Then you choose Lance. I don’t want to control your life. That’s the last thing I want.” Keith looked at Lance nervously, and the familiar seemed content with those words.

“But I wouldn’t change my actions in that practice session at all.” Keith stated firmly. “What I did in there scared us all, even me, but if it stopped you from getting hurt I’m okay with it.”

 _You'll stop if I tell you it's too much._ Lance whispered, the cool presence of his mind swirling once again in the back of the red wizard’s head.

Keith let out a relieved sigh and smiled. “I can do that.”

They walked together back to their rooms in silence. There was still some tension between the two, but they both ignored it, just happier that they'd come to some sort of understanding.

Keith glanced at Lance quietly, watching the confidant sway of the familiar's walk. "What were you doing downstairs anyways?"

"I've been having trouble with Blue as well. My bond with her is causing me trouble as well. The feeling of having someone in my head still messes with me." Lance admitted, rubbing his head. "She's less invasive but it still triggers something in me."

Keith winced. "This can't be easy for you."

"I'm facing all of my greatest fears over and over again at once." Lance said hollowly. "When I heard the rioting outside, I had to believe that the resistance was there. I didn't even think, I jumped out of that window with that damn collar still around my neck. It almost snapped my neck when I landed, I remember choking, before someone saw me and shot the chain around my neck."

"I cried for him when they dragged me to safety. The bond forced me to want to protect him. Luckily they got me to a doctor who was able to break the bond, but emotionally it destroyed me. I ran from my rescuers often, running towards what I thought was my broken bond. I was terrified that he would find me, I felt like I had to get back to him and that every second I was away was just another second of torture."

"I followed the tugging here, but it just lead me to Altea." They stepped into the elevator, Keith quietly giving Lance his space.

"I hated myself for looking for him, but I just couldn't stop. The resistance finally gave up on me, they weren't judgmental or rude about it, but they just had other things to do. When I came here it got easier, the pull lessened inside the barriers. I'm afraid that at the end of the day this will all mean nothing because I'll see him again and he'll still be able to control me." Lance seemed resigned to the fact.

"I don't want to ever feel like that with another person or thing again. Which is why all of this has been so hard for me. The bonding scares me." The elevator came to a stop at the med floor, letting the two paladins out. Lance seemed frozen by his thoughts.

Keith silently placed a hand on the small of Lance's back, leading the blue paladin to his room. Lance seemed shocked by the simple touch, but he let Keith guide him without any complaint.

When they reached Lance's door Keith opened it for him, stepping back to give him some space. Lance hesitated at the door, glancing at Keith.

"Do you want me to stay?" Keith asked.

Lance glanced back up at Keith. Keith could see the hesitation in Lance's eyes as he mulled the question over in his head.

He opened his mouth, momentarily looking like a gaping fish. "I don't know..."

Keith nodded. "Then let's not. My door's open if you need it."

Lance looked visibly relieved.

Keith watched the blue paladin disappear through the door, only turning to his own room when the door to Lance's room shut.

Keith let out a heavy sigh, they were making progress at least. He just hoped it would be enough.

He headed back to his own room, feeling slightly giddy at their progress.

He opened the door to his room stripping his pants off and quickly jumping under the sheets. Keith's bed was cold against his skin, chilling his flush.

The red wizard silently stared at the ceiling, his hand unconsciously reaching for a warmth that wasn't there as he fell asleep.

Keith opened his eyes and suddenly he was back in the void.

Keith sighed, he was really getting tired of these dreams.

Keith looked around for Lance, surprised to not see the lean boy floating around next to him.

The red light from earlier dreams was there though and it morphed, forming a distinctly feline shape that's ears twitched in acknowledgement.

"Red." Keith whispered, reaching for her.

The lion bounded out of the red wizard's reach, waiting for her paladin to walk closer before darting out of his reach again.

"God what do you want!" Keith growled chasing after the cat.

Red lead him to the glimmering blue figure of Blue, pouncing on her pride mate.

The two wrestled for a few minutes until Red pinned Blue playfully, biting at her shoulder.

"Enough you two." Keith shooed, pulling Red off Blue with his hands. "Where's Lance?"

Blue let out a petulant growl, but lead the wizard to an unmoving figure.

Lance laid prone in a corner, unmoving even when Blue softly pawed at his face.

Keith closed his eyes at the unnaturally still figure, reminding himself it was just a dream before he placed his hands on the boy to try and wake him.

Suddenly Keith felt his vision shift and a room came into view, the heady smell of perfume and herbs filled the air. Keith jerked his hands off of Lance's body in shock.

"What the..."

Red nudged his hand back towards Lance's body, ears flicking in annoyance.

Keith glared at the glowing feline shape before tentatively placing his hand on Lance again.

The room was the same, the cloying smell of incense and perfume. It was ornately decorated as if someone had spent hours getting every detail just how they wanted it.

Keith looked down at his tan manicured hands and realized they were Lance's, following the lines of his arms he felt a thick diamond collar hung loosely around his neck. Maybe with enough force he could get it off.

A brunette girl wanted into the room, her neck also adorned with a collar. She smiled sadly at Lance, her orange eyes dull, running a familiar hand through his hair.

Suddenly a door slammed in the other room and fear struck through the girl's face, she jumped onto the bed next to Lance, cowering behind him.

Keith felt Lance wrap himself protectively around the girl, seething. Keith pulled his hand off Lance again, his hands shaking.

"Please don't make me watch this. It's wrong for me to invade his privacy like this." Red pushed him back into the dream, ignoring Keith's pleas.

There was Galra in the room with the two now, he was screaming but Lance was drowning out the words so Keith couldn't make them out.

The Galra was slim and darkly attractive, his skin sickly purple in the light, a clear sign of dark magic use.

Keith looked around using Lance's unsure of what Red wanted him to find. Nothing seemed horribly out of place, besides the chains and tools lined along the walls.

A hard slap to the throat brought Keith back to the real world, gasping for air.

"Pay attention Serid." Lotor snapped at Lance's wandering eyes. "I'll always find you no matter where you are. Remember that."

Keith felt his body shake in fear and he tried to let go of Lance again except something was keeping his hand pressed to the dream Lance.

Lotor grabbed a vial and a needle, effectively stabbing Lance and injecting him with a clear liquid.

Lance's body melted to the bed, but Keith's senses stayed clear.

"Emha, did you complete your tasks?" The Galra prince asked. The girl behind Lance nodded vigorously, handing things to Lotor from her pockets.

Lotor grinned, pulling a knife from the wall. "Now I'll always be able to find you." He whispered, slicing his own hand open.

_Invenire volens magicis munierat cingere parat._

Lotor's every glowed yellow with dark magic and his skin turned purple. The air grew thicker around Lance's body and Keith felt unnatural energy dancing through the wind. Dark magic filled the room and Lance's vision went white, cutting Keith off from the dream.

Keith woke suddenly, jumping off the edge of his bed and grabbing his knapsack.

He rummaged through the supplies before his hand caught a familiar thick tome.

Keith flipped through the magical book before stopping with a cry of success.

The spell was simply labeled "For Extra Security" in a thin scrawling hand. Underneath it the incantation _Volens invenire concubitus munierat cingere parat_ was scrawled. The similar wording caught his eye, but there was a word or two switched around.

When Keith had first read it he had assumed it was a quick spell to catch a lover in an affair, but now he looked over it with a firmer eye. The passage detailed a ritual that allowed you to pinpoint the location of a partner if that partner had sex.

"What does this have to do with Lance?" Keith gritted, the parameters were all wrong for the familiar. This spell required mutual acceptance from both spouses, something that Lance had obviously not consented to in the dream.

Then something scrawled on the margin caught his eye.

_When modified very useful for runaway familiars._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm expecting only like two more chapters! So we're almost finished folks!
> 
> Next chapter expect battles and confrontation, along with some resolution.
> 
> Sorry again for the cliffhanger. :o Maybe I should write a detective fic next and put them cliffhangers to good use.


End file.
